Reckless Manslaughter Case Summary

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Discussion on a case [Student’s Name] [Name of the Institution] Discussion on a case Brief overview of the case The case surrounds Pat who was involved in the death of two people as a result of his reckless actions; his girlfriend Sara and of her friend Lauren. The event started with Pat being asked by Sara to take her cat to the vet for an injection. Being allergic to cats, Pat sneezes out loud while his way back from the vet, loses control of the cat box for a moment and dropped it on Ted’s foot, bruising his toes. This makes Pat angry and he blames Sara when he returns home in the presence of her friends Lauren and Rebecca. There is a row between Pat and Sara over this and Pat loses his temper, picks up the food bowl of the …show more content…

This takes place when a person by an act, which is not lawful from the fact that it is carried out recklessly, knowing that there are a lot of chances that there were will be caused bodily harm is regarded as reckless manslaughter. The particular concern of this kind of manslaughter is distinguishing between murder, where one intends to kill, and subjective recklessness. In the case of Sara, it can be seen that there was recklessness on the part of Pat. When he hurled the bowl across the room in disgust, since the act could cause bodily harm when the bowl had broken, it was sheer recklessness on the part of Pat. Although he did not foresee the harm to be of such an extent, and it was only to vent out his feelings of anger and disgust, he can be charged of committing an involuntary manslaughter as a result of …show more content…

Considering first the actions of Pat, it can be seen that while Pat did not direct the bowl at Sara, the tin opener that Pat threw at Rebecca was intended to hurt her, however, it hit Lauren instead and hurt her badly. Since intent is the fundamental element to consider in any case murder case, there is a need that the intention of Pat was looked at first. The intention of Pat here was not similar to that of what he intended in Sara’s situation. Here he, after the accusations of Rebecca, threw the tin opener directly at her. This time Pat intended to cause harm to Rebecca, though not to the one who eventually died as a result of his actions. Although such a result was not intended, there was an intention of causing harm and hence, this intent element can work against Pat. The case of Lauren’s death can also be considered in light of intentional or voluntary manslaughter since Pat intended to cause harm to Rebecca when he threw the tin opener, and subsequently caused the death of