Beckwitt v. State
Annotate this Case
The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the court of special appeals affirming Defendant's conviction for gross negligence involuntary manslaughter but reversing his conviction for depraved heart murder, holding that the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction for second-degree depraved heart murder.
Specifically, the Court of Appeals held (1) the evidence was sufficient to support Defendant's conviction for involuntary manslaughter under both a gross negligence and failure to perform a legal duty theory of the offense; (2) legal duty involuntary manslaughter is not a lesser-included offense of depraved heart murder; and (3) Defendant's conduct did not constitute conduct that demonstrated an extreme indifference to the value of human life, and therefore, the evidence was not sufficient to support Defendant's conviction for second-degree depraved heart murder.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.