VA · jury_instructions
Va. Model Jury Instr. Crim. No. 33.660
Aggravated Involuntary Manslaughter, Motor Vehicle—Under the Influence
The defendant is charged with the crime of aggravated involuntary manslaughter. The
Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt each of the following elements of that
crime:
(1) That the defendant was [driving; operating] a motor vehicle; and
(2) That at the time he was [under the influence of alcohol; under the influence of a narcotic drug or a
self-administered intoxicant or drug of whatsoever nature; under the influence of a combination of drugs;
under the combined influence of alcohol and a drug or drugs] to a degree which impaired his ability to
[drive; operate] a motor vehicle safely; and
(3) That as a result of driving under the influence the defendant unintentionally caused the death
of (name of person); and
(4) That the defendant’s conduct was so gross, wanton and culpable as to show a reckless
disregard for human life.
If you find from the evidence that the Commonwealth has proved beyond a reasonable doubt
each of the above elements of the crime as charged, then you shall find the defendant guilty of
aggravated involuntary manslaughter [but you shall not fix the punishment until your verdict has been
returned and further evidence has been heard by you].
If you find that the Commonwealth has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt any one or
more of the elements of the crime, then you shall find the defendant not guilty of aggravated
involuntary manslaughter.
History
Virginia Model Jury Instructions – Criminal, Release 26, October 2025. The unannotated set, posted by the Supreme Court of Virginia at vacourts.gov; the book states that it is made available with the permission of the publisher, Matthew Bender & Company, Inc.
Provenance
- Source
- vacourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-11
- Edition
- crim-2025-10-01
- Content hash
863a25ac7d25ce9df170ec65ca3850bda10de769ffbdae0222820e72bab15591
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.