Criminal liability under Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: punishment and judicial practice

The corpus delicti under Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - causing death by negligence in everyday life is also called unintentional murder. This article examines what Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation differs from murder (Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), what punishment can be faced for causing death by negligence and how a lawyer for manslaughter in Krasnogorsk can help.

According to Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, murder by negligence is the deprivation of the life of another person as a result of careless actions. It is quite difficult to prove the commission of a crime under this article, and therefore the prosecution very often puts pressure on the suspect if he was not immediately caught red-handed on the spot and did not confess. The task of a qualified murder lawyer in Krasnogorsk is to help the suspect in order to avoid classifying the crime under the more serious Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

That is, the work of a lawyer in Krasnogorsk in a criminal case under Art.
109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in this case will be aimed at the correct qualification of the crime, on which, ultimately, the fairness and objectivity of the imposed punishment will depend. CRIMINAL LAWYER call now: ☎ 8 (495) 532-75-40

What does causing death by negligence mean?

Among criminal acts that in one way or another relate to an attempt on human life, causing death by negligence occupies a special place. In the criminal code, this article is not classified as murder.

Causing death by negligence is an action (or inaction) that results in the death of a person. Moreover, in order for a case to be classified under this article, the criminal must be proven to have no malicious intent or intention to cause death.

Either negligence or a frivolous attitude to what is happening leads to the commission of such a crime. In this case, the perpetrator had to foresee that his actions could cause death, but for some reason he believed that this should not happen.

The main difference between crimes classified under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and murder with indirect intent is that the criminal in the first case is only able to assume that his action will cause the death of a person. In the second case, the criminal realizes that his act will be followed by the death of a person and is indifferent to his fate.

IMPORTANT! Before the collapse of the USSR, causing death by negligence was classified as murder. However, currently in Russia and the countries of the post-Soviet space, this term only refers to causing death committed with malicious intent. Changes in the new version of the legislation made it possible to assign a more lenient punishment under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation than for murder.

Criminal liability under Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: punishment

The punishment for the accused under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation may be as follows:

correctional labor, restriction of freedom for up to two years,
imprisonment for up to two years (if the death of a person occurred due to improper performance by the criminal of his immediate duties, which is described in the second part of the article),
imprisonment or correctional labor for up to four years (if two or more people died as a result of the criminal’s act).

Read also: Amounts of insurance premiums in case of temporary disability and maternity

Liability for manslaughter

Actions leading to death due to negligence are assessed by 3 parts of the 109th law. They help to understand the degree of responsibility of the killer.

Liability is determined by the main and additional circumstances of the incident - when and how the irreparable happened: as a result of traffic, other careless actions that resulted in the death of another person, any illegal and dangerous activity.

The law specifies as much as possible all possible circumstances that can change the degree of responsibility - the minimum and maximum terms are determined based on them.

What factors assess the responsibility of the criminal and his obligation to bear a certain punishment:

Death due to failure to fulfill one's direct official duties. The basis for deprivation of life is negligence or incompetence. They are assessed as negligence leading to irreversible consequences - an accidental act led to death. If murder is qualified by the first part of the article, the defendant receives restriction of freedom for up to 3 years or forced labor for the same period. A correctional period implies a ban on a certain type of activity.
Death due to negligence. The Code of the Russian Federation assumes causing harm without malicious intent to two or more persons at the same time. The maximum term under this part of the article is 4 years. Limited freedom does not exempt the offender from forced labor - its duration is determined by the court. A ban on certain activities is issued for a period of 2-4 years.
Third case. If the first two parts of the article do not help assess the crime, murder is classified under the third part. It provides for a simpler punishment - a mild punishment with a minimum period of restriction of freedom of up to 2 years. By decision of the court, the killer is deprived of freedom or has it limited, or is assigned forced labor.

In qualifying a crime, the individual circumstances of the incident are decisive. The following circumstances are called aggravating: intoxication of the criminal or self-defense with a fatal outcome.

Murder committed by negligence

"Murder by negligence" is an incorrect term. Murder presupposes that the offender had intent, that is, he intended to take the life of the victim. Therefore, in modern legislation such a phrase is not used.

The distinctive features of causing death by negligence, distinguishing it from murder, are as follows:

the offender did not intend to kill the victim, he had no motivation to take his life and he did not benefit from his death,
the offender believed that his actions would not cause the death of the victim, although he had an idea that such consequences could occur,
There must be a proven cause-and-effect relationship between the actions of the perpetrator and the death of the victim.

IMPORTANT! Death caused by negligence is not considered to be the death of a person resulting from a violation of fire safety rules. In this case, the crime is classified under another article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Examples of causing death by negligence

Crimes under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are usually committed by citizens who either lead an asocial lifestyle or take their professional duties too lightly.

The following cases can be cited as examples:

Citizens I. and Yu. Drank alcohol at their friend’s house. During the drinking process, a conflict occurred, as a result of which citizen I. threw a cup at Yu. The cup did not reach the target, but Yu, trying to dodge, hit his head on the windowsill, resulting in his death. At the trial, I. was convicted under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. As a punishment, the court chose correctional labor for a period of two years,
The captain of the yacht left his workplace, accepting the invitation of one of the vacationers, went down to the cabin, where he drank alcohol. The yacht, left practically unattended, capsized, resulting in the death of three people. The captain was convicted under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to the verdict, the punishment for the crimes was three years in prison.

If the death was caused due to the actions of a person in the performance of his duties, the court may impose a ban on professional activity for up to three years as a punishment. For example, if a nurse, while on duty, saw that the patient’s heartbeat and breathing had stopped, but made no attempt to resuscitate him and did not call other doctors for help, she may be deprived of the opportunity to work in her specialty. However, much depends on the reasons why assistance was not provided in the proper amount (inattention, state of psychological shock, misunderstanding of what is happening, etc.).

IMPORTANT! If the cause of a person’s death was an accident, the actions of the driver or other culprit of the incident are classified under Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The punishment under Article 264 is more severe. A similar decision was made at the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on December 9, 2008.

What is the term for manslaughter - article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

The terms of punishment for sentences passed by the court under Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, can be changed in the appeal, cassation or supervisory procedures. The relevant courts have the right to change the sentence of a lower court, both in terms of terms and in the chosen punishment. In addition, they can overturn the verdict or return the case for a new trial. The difference between the appellate and cassation instances is that the former makes decisions regarding sentences that have not entered into legal force.

If you believe that your rights were violated during the sentencing, contact the higher authorities of the courts with complaints. It is worth considering that higher courts consider cases in a rather formalized manner - the absence of the necessary papers or requirements in the complaint will lead to a decision not being made in your favor. For this reason, you should definitely involve a lawyer in the case; he will not allow such mistakes and will protect your rights.

The supervisory authority in such cases is the Presidium of the Supreme Court of Russia.

How can I file a complaint to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation?

The Supreme Court of Russia is also the court of appeal and cassation for decisions made by courts. Appeals are filed through the court that issued the verdict. Within the time limits established by the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, these courts will transfer them to higher authorities.

Cassation appeals are filed directly with the cassation court. A peculiarity of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is that it is necessary to appeal to it in appeal or cassation proceedings only after passing through all lower courts.

The complaint must contain:

name of the court;
FULL NAME. or the names of all participants in the process;
names of all courts that considered the case previously and an indication of their decisions being appealed;
precise indications of violations committed by lower courts;
clearly formulated requests of the complainant.

The complaint is signed by the applicant or his authorized representative. In the latter case, a power of attorney is attached to the complaint. The complaint must also be accompanied by copies of all decisions rendered in the case by the lower courts.

The number of copies of the complaint must correspond to the number of persons participating in the case.

Note! The deadline for filing a complaint is 1 month from the date of the lower court’s decision.

Only a highly qualified lawyer can competently draw up a petition, meet all procedural deadlines and achieve a decision in your favor. These are the lawyers who cooperate with our website. Contact them online for further advice. If necessary, they will join the cause.

Latest questions on the topic: “manslaughter"

Manslaughter

Hello!
Is it possible to find out how many years a relative can be given for manslaughter? During the fight, a relative hit the victim with a stick, he fell into a coma and died 5 days later. Alena, Omsk

manslaughter

Lawyer: Egor Shchelkunov

offline now

It all depends on the qualifications given by the investigator, the presence of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. The punishment is set by the court and the approximate period must be looked at according to the sanction of the article. But there will be a real deadline.

Ask a Question

Lawyer: Anton Oberemok

Manslaughter

Hello!
Please tell me it is possible to get out a person who is imprisoned for murder under Article 96, the murder was due to negligence, but we could not prove this because the brother of the deceased’s relative works in the authorities and this played a big role. My husband has already served half his sentence, a total term of 10 years; he has already served 5. Just tell me is it really possible to get him out or is it hopeless? Thanks in advance Oksana, Karaganda

manslaughter

Lawyer: Yanna Galagan

Manslaughter

hello, a friend was convicted (killed his son) under Article 105 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the murder was unintentional, the man died from one blow with a knife, the convicted person is characterized only on the positive side, he has not been brought to criminal or administrative liability before, he is 58 years old, all relatives of the judge They asked for a minimum sentence and even if possible a suspended sentence, but they were convicted not even at the minimum, they were sentenced to 7.6 years of strict regime, the complaints were rejected
Rosalia, city.

manslaughter

Lawyer: Vladimir Murashko

offline now

Hello Rosalia, again!

It seems no one wants to answer your question. You contacted me in the chat and I answered the same question. I will repeat here.

Even from the situation of the murder briefly described by you, it is not clear in any way that it was committed through negligence. Without knowing the materials of the case and based on your statements that “ the murder was unintentional, the man died from one blow with a knife,” we can imagine the situation: there is a quarrel between the defendant and the victim. At the same time, the defendant is holding a knife in his hands. At some point, one of them suddenly and unexpectedly bent down or threw his hand with the knife forward and, thus, the knife hit the victim in a vital part of the body, from which he died. Can such a version be considered plausible? You can imagine another situation: During the quarrel, the knife was in the hands of the victim, and with the blade in his direction. At some point, the defendant pushed the victim, without thinking about the consequences, and he ran into the knife he was holding in his hand.

Dear Rosalia, in all my extensive practice in the law enforcement system, I have never seen anything like what I described above. If there were attempts to explain the murder in a similar or similar setting, such explanations were easily refuted by expert opinions and other evidence.

I wrote all this to you so that you do not have any illusions about the possibility of changing or canceling the sentence in the situations you described. Sanction Part 1 Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for punishment from 6 to 15 years of imprisonment. It seems to me that the court took into account all the mitigating circumstances you indicated, as well as the age of the defendant, and therefore sentenced him to 7 years and 6 months in prison. Killing a person with a knife by causing damage to a vital organ through negligence - this, you know, looks like a fantasy.

Unintentional (careless) murder is considered to be cases when one pushed another, not expecting that he would fall and hit his head on a hard or sharp object, or a builder dropped a brick from a great height on the head of a person passing by, or threw the same brick over a high fence and hit the head of a person accidentally passing by, or... So, approximately, in such situations, a person will be found guilty of committing careless (not premeditated) murder.

Ask a Question

Manslaughter

How to prove that you killed a person through negligence and not intentionally if you added drugs and 2 years have passed
Olya, Perm

manslaughter

Lawyer: Ilya Kostromov

offline now

How to prove that you killed a person through negligence and not intentionally if you added drugs and 2 years have passed Olya

Olya,

and what events happened during these two years?

Has the person who supplied the drugs been identified? Prosecuted? Charged with premeditated murder? Tried? Found guilty?

Or what else happened?

If a sentence has been passed against a person, then in order to answer your question, you must first familiarize yourself with the criminal case or at least with the text of the sentence.

Ask a Question

Intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm resulting in death through negligence

Causing harm to health, committed with malicious intent and resulting in the death of the victim, according to Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, can be punished by imprisonment for up to 15 years. The assignment of a term depends on a number of circumstances: the defendant’s admission of guilt, surrender, the fact of the offender’s repentance for his crime, etc.

Read also: Procedure for conducting a compulsory psychiatric examination

According to the comments to the article, the category of serious harm to health includes injuries such as second-degree burns, the area of which exceeds 30% of the body surface, penetrating wounds of the skull, damage to large vessels, etc. This kind of damage can cause the death of the victim or the development of a threatening life state (shock, coma, clinical death).

IMPORTANT! If, during hospitalization, medical workers have reason to suspect that the victim has suffered harm to health that could cause death, they have the right to independently report this to law enforcement authorities. In this case, the consent of the victim is not required.

How to prove that death was caused by negligence

It is not easy to distinguish between causing death by negligence and murder. However, it is very important to do this: the term and form of punishment for the offender depends on the classification of the crime. Witnesses are involved in the investigation, as well as numerous experts in the field of criminology, medicine and psychology. It is important to identify the elements of the crime, including whether the suspect has malicious intent and intention to kill the victim or cause serious harm to his health.

To prove that death occurred as a result of negligence and to classify the crime under Article 109 of the Criminal Code, the following help:

witness statements. Witnesses can provide information that will become the basis for an indictment. For example, in favor of causing death by negligence are the attempts of the accused to prevent the death of the victim, his state of shock after realizing the fact of the death of another person, etc.
analysis of the psychological portrait of the criminal, characteristics of his personality and the presence of a connection with the victim. Criminal psychologists can cite facts that prove that the accused could not have intended to kill the victim or did not have any personal connections or conflicts with him that could have caused the murder. Refusal of a psychological examination can become an aggravating circumstance and lead to suspicions that the suspect has intentions towards the victim that he wants to hide,
analysis of the circumstances of the case. It is important to find out for what reasons the death of the victim occurred, whether the accused had the opportunity to prevent it, whether his actions are related to the consequences in the form of the death of another person directly or indirectly. Each new evidence can change the court's decision, so great attention is paid to collecting evidence. The decision to order examinations is made by a judge or investigator.

IMPORTANT! At trial, it is important for the lawyer to prove that the defendant did not expect that his actions would cause the death of the victim. Punishment is excluded if the accused did everything possible to prevent the death of another person or did not realize at all that fatal consequences could occur as a result of his actions.

Corpus delicti

To assess a fatal incident due to the careless actions of the accused, Article 109 of the Criminal Code is applied. It examines all the surrounding circumstances of the incident. The corpus delicti in such a case has a certain structure:

the object of the process is a criminal article: it is considered by the court;
the accused party - the criminal, is the object of the case;
the objective side is a detailed description of events and collected unbiased evidence;
the subjective side is the assessment of the situation on the part of the criminal: his motive, attitude to what happened, regrets and repentance.

The case materials are considered in court. This provision assumes that the offender is a person over 14 years of age.

Negligence, as the basis of the defense of the criminal, must be fully proven and supported in court - in this case, the trial proceeds from the opposite, from the absence of malicious intent and direct motive for the murder.

The statute of limitations for crimes under Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Read also: Is disability granted for rheumatoid arthritis: registration procedure and group

The offender will not be punished for his act if a six-year period has passed since its commission. This is due to the fact that crimes classified under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation belong to the group of crimes of medium severity.

IMPORTANT! If the person whose actions or inaction caused the death was in the performance of his professional duties, this is considered an aggravating circumstance under Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Most often, this concerns medical workers or law enforcement officers.

Causing death by negligence, described in Article 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, cannot be punished as severely as murder. The main difference between these crimes is the presence in the case of murder of malicious intent and intention to cause the death of the victim. The legal status of the act and the court decision depend on this factor.

Another comment on Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

1. The crime under analysis differs from murder only in the form of guilt.

2. Improper performance of professional duties by the perpetrator means the behavior of a person that does not fully or partially comply with the official requirements or instructions imposed on the person.

3. If there is a special norm providing for liability for causing death due to improper performance by a person of professional duties (for example, Part 2 of Article 143, Part 2 of Article 216 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), a special norm is subject to application.