CALCRIM No. 580

Code, § 192(b))

When a person commits an unlawful killing but does not intend to kill

and does not act with conscious disregard for human life, then the crime

is involuntary manslaughter.

The difference between other homicide offenses and involuntary

manslaughter depends on whether the person was aware of the risk to

life that his or her actions created and consciously disregarded that risk.

An unlawful killing caused by a willful act done with full knowledge and

awareness that the person is endangering the life of another, and done in

conscious disregard of that risk, is voluntary manslaughter or murder.

An unlawful killing resulting from a willful act committed without intent

to kill and without conscious disregard of the risk to human life is

involuntary manslaughter.

The defendant committed involuntary manslaughter if:

1. The defendant committed (a crime/ [or] a lawful act in an

unlawful manner);

2. The defendant committed the (crime/ [or] act) with criminal

negligence;

AND

3. The defendant’s acts caused the death of another person.

[The People allege that the defendant committed the following crime[s]:

<insert misdemeanor[s]/infraction[s])/noninherently dangerous

(felony/felonies)/inherently dangerous assaultive (felony/felonies)>.

Instruction[s] tell[s] you what the People must prove in

order to prove that the defendant committed <insert

misdemeanor[s]/infraction[s])/ noninherently dangerous (felony/felonies)/

inherently dangerous assaultive (felony/felonies)>.]

[The People [also] allege that the defendant committed the following

lawful act[s] with criminal negligence: <insert act[s]

alleged>.]

Criminal negligence involves more than ordinary carelessness,

inattention, or mistake in judgment. A person acts with criminal

negligence when:

1. He or she acts in a reckless way that creates a high risk of death

or great bodily injury;

AND

2. A reasonable person would have known that acting in that way

would create such a risk.

In other words, a person acts with criminal negligence when the way he

or she acts is so different from the way an ordinarily careful person

would act in the same situation that his or her act amounts to disregard

for human life or indifference to the consequences of that act.

[An act causes death if the death is the direct, natural, and probable

consequence of the act and the death would not have happened without

the act. A natural and probable consequence is one that a reasonable

person would know is likely to happen if nothing unusual intervenes. In

deciding whether a consequence is natural and probable, consider all of

the circumstances established by the evidence.]

[There may be more than one cause of death. An act causes death only if

it is a substantial factor in causing the death. A substantial factor is more

than a trivial or remote factor. However, it does not need to be the only

factor that causes the death.]

Great bodily injury means significant or substantial physical injury. It is

an injury that is greater than moderate harm.

[The People allege that the defendant committed the following (crime[s]/

[and] lawful act[s] with criminal negligence): <insert alleged

predicate acts when multiple acts alleged>. Y ou may not find the

defendant guilty unless all of you agree that the People have proved that

the defendant committed at least one of these alleged acts and you all

agree that the same act or acts were proved.]

In order to prove murder or voluntary manslaughter, the People have

the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant

acted with intent to kill or with conscious disregard for human life. If

the People have not met either of these burdens, you must find the

defendant not guilty of murder and not guilty of voluntary

manslaughter.

New January 2006; Revised April 2011, February 2013, September 2018, September

2020, September 2022, October 2025