California Court of Appeal

Conviction of defendant for involuntary manslaughter, arising from an incident in which defendant and other individuals beat, tied up, suffocated and provided cocaine to the victim, is affirmed where: 1) defendant's numerous challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury's causation finding is rejected as the evidence supports the conclusion that defendant committed acts that substantially and foreseeably contributed to the victim's death; and 2) the trial court's jury instructions adequately informed the jury of the criminal negligence standard applicable to the mens rea required for involuntary manslaughter, and there was no instructional error.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/24/2010
• Published 08/24/2010

Judges

• HALLER

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Carl Fabian, Edmund G. Brown, Jr