CALCRIM No. 581

§ 192(b))

The defendant is charged [in Count] with involuntary

manslaughter [in violation of Penal Code section 192(b)].

To prove that the defendant is guilty of this crime, the People must

prove that:

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)>.

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)>.]

[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 on which act (he/she) committed.]

New January 2006; Revised April 2011, September 2020, October 2025