Practice Guide for the Lee County Criminal Attorney: Negligence Issues

 

A criminal attorney in Lee County knows that, negligence, in the criminal law sense, is distinguished between crimes of harmful consequences and crimes of harmful actions. Accidents require a form of lack of conscious thought between the action and the consequence. Negligence therefore applies to homicide, battery, and arson but not to rape, larceny, and burglary.'

 

A good rule of thumb for criminal attorneys in Lee County is to ask if the harm can occur accidentally can it be the product of negligent activity. The only difference between accidents and criminal negligence is the ability of the actor to avoid the harm by exercising reasonable care and that is, acting reasonably.

 

With that being said, a criminal attorney in Lee County can formulate a workable statement about the limited place of negligence in the criminal law and that is that “only crimes of harmful consequences can occur negligently.”

 

After all this makes sense. After all, we cannot have a crime of negligent rape, negligent larceny, or negligent burglary. But in Lee County, the State Attorney’s Office can punish crimes of negligent homicide, negligent arson, negligent destruction of property, or negligent battery.

 

Lee County Criminal Practitioner Note: Accident versus Mistake

 

The difference between mistakes and accidents is easy to determine when you think about it. Mistakes can occur in all forms of offense. But accidents can occur only when there is an independent causal process between the action and the harmful consequence. Causal processes can go awry and produce a result totally different from the actor's expectations. When the unexpected result comes about without any fault on the part of the actor, then it is an accident.

 

Lee County Criminal Practitioner Note: Definition of Criminal Negligence

 

One can be said to have acted negligently with respect to a material element of an offense when he should be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the potential for harm exists or will result from his conduct. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that the defendant's failure to perceive it, considering the nature and purpose of his conduct and the circumstances known to him, involves a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the actor's situation.

When we think of automobile accidents, the term negligence often comes to mind. If the driver causing the accident is impaired by drugs or alcohol, the criminal charge filed in Lee County is  DUI homicide and no negligence. For more information on Lee County DUI, please visit our Florida, west coast website.