N.C.P.I.—Crim. 206.50

NOTE WELL: Refer to Punishment Chart for Homicides,

N.C.P.I.—Crim. 206 Series.

The defendant has been charged with involuntary manslaughter,

which is the unintentional killing of a human being by an unlawful act not

amounting to a felony or by an act done in a criminally negligent way.

For you to find the defendant guilty of involuntary manslaughter,

the State must prove two things beyond a reasonable doubt:

First, that the defendant acted a) [unlawfully] b) [in a criminally

negligent way].1 a) [The defendant's act was unlawful if (describe crime,

e.g., defendant assaulted the victim (define assault).)] b) [Criminal

negligence is more than mere carelessness. The defendant's act was

criminally negligent, if, judging by reasonable foresight, it was done with

such gross recklessness or carelessness as to amount to a heedless

indifference to the safety and rights of others.]2

And Second, the State must prove that the defendant's act

proximately caused the victim's death. A proximate cause is a real cause,

a cause without which the victim's death would not have occurred, and

one that a reasonably careful and prudent person could foresee would

probably produce such [injury] [damage] or some similar injurious result.

(The defendant's act need not have been the only cause, nor the last or

nearest cause. It is sufficient if it occurred with some other cause acting

at the same time, which, in combination with, caused the death of the

victim.)3

NOTE WELL: If self-defense is an issue, refer to

N.C.P.I.—Crim 308.40. If defense of others is an issue,

refer to N.C.P.I.—Crim 308.47. If defense of habitation

is an issue, refer to N.C.P.I.—Crim 308.80. See State v.

Gomola, 257 N.C. App. 816 (2018).

If you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that on or

about the alleged date, the defendant [(describe crime)] (or) [acted in a

criminally negligent way] thereby proximately causing the death of the

victim, it would be your duty to return a verdict of guilty of involuntary

manslaughter. However, if you do not so find or have reasonable doubt as

to one or both of these things, it would be your duty to return a verdict of

not guilty.4