D took Blanche Burns to his apartment while his wife was out of town. They had slept together before. Blanche was the village bicycle it seems.
D and Blanche got drunk. Blanche then took an overdose of morphine pills. D prevented her from taking any more pills.
However, D's wife was coming home soon, so he had her placed in someone's basement apartment with instructions to let her out the back door when she woke up.
The occupant of the basement apartment became alarmed at Blanche's condition and called the doctor; she was pronounced dead there.
D was arrested for failing to secure medical treatment for Blanche when he discovered the overdose and was charged with manslaughter.
Procedural History:
Trial court found D guilty of manslaughter.
MI Supreme Court reversed, D not guilty of manslaughter.
Issues:
Does a party's failure to act to save a life of a person over whom the party has no duty of care constitute manslaughter if the omission is the direct cause of death?
Holding/Rule:
While a party might have a moral obligation to act, a party is not liable for manslaughter for failing to act to save the life of someone over whom they have no duty of care.
Reasoning:
In certain situations, there is a duty to act to save a life--husband-wife, parent-child, master-servant.
In the absence of a domestic relationship, public duty, or voluntary choice, an omission is not valid grounds for manslaughter.
If D were carousing with a man, no one would suggest that D had a duty to save the man. The fact that the decedent was a woman should not change that.
Dissent:
None.
Notes:
Criminal liability to act is imposed in the following situations…
A duty founded on a special relationship (parent-child)
A duty based upon statute (driver must stop to help those in accident)
A contractual duty (lifeguard)
A duty arising from a voluntary assumption of care (a person who stops to give aid is required to continue)
Placing another in a condition of peril (causing the accident)
Controlling the acts of a charge (parent must protect others from dangerous propensities of his child)
