Citizens have the right to use the force to protect themselves from any type of harm if necessary and a defendant which is charged with manslaughter may consider a defense of self-defense if there is any evidence that he or she honestly as well as reasonably believed that the use of the force which resulted in death was necessary to protect his or her safety. The court must acquit a defendant unless the state may prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a claim of self-defense is not valid if any evidence of self-defense exists.
The specific circumstances of each and every case such as which party was the initial aggressor and which party escalated a violent altercation will have a significant impact on the success of a self-defense defense. Manslaughter is often mistakenly thought to be an accidental killing but this is not true. If a death is purely accidental then no crime has been committed and in order for a prosecutor to make a charge of the manslaughter stick, he or she must prove that the defendant’s negligent or reckless actions and disregard for risk caused another person’s death and this type of unintentional homicide is also known as involuntary manslaughter.
The specific circumstances of each and every case such as which party was the initial aggressor and which party escalated a violent altercation will have a significant impact on the success of a self-defense defense. Manslaughter is often mistakenly thought to be an accidental killing but this is not true. If a death is purely accidental then no crime has been committed and in order for a prosecutor to make a charge of the manslaughter stick, he or she must prove that the defendant’s negligent or reckless actions and disregard for risk caused another person’s death and this type of unintentional homicide is also known as involuntary manslaughter.