Criminally negligent homicide takes place when someone kills another human being through an accident rather than intentionally. Although criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter are closely related, in a manslaughter charge the person is aware of a significant risk of death, but disregards it. In a case of criminally negligent homicide, while its reasonable to believe the person should have been aware of the significant risk of death, the fact is they were not. While this may sound like a relatively small difference in wording, there is a very large difference in the number of years the convicted person could face: 2-20 years in prison for a manslaughter conviction or six months to two years in jail for a criminally negligent homicide conviction. Nonetheless, charges of criminally negligent homicide are extremely serious and should be treated with the utmost seriousness. Its important that someone charged with criminally negligent homicide not speak to anyone at all, including the police, until he or she has had the opportunity to speak with a criminal defense attorney. Remember that your entire future is at stake once you have been charged, so dont take any chances, rather contact an experienced attorney immediately.
