A British man has been charged with murder because a victim died of COVID-19.
A British man was arrested for assault and attempted murder in January after he ran over a woman during a road rage incident. While in the hospital recovering the woman contracted coronavirus and died. He’s now charged with murder.
But he didn’t give her the coronavirus, so could he be charged with murder under US law? Yes. He had a criminal intent to do bodily harm. And were it not for his actions, she probably would have died? But she didn’t die of her injuries, she died of an infection. So the law would ask if she died because of an unforeseeable, intervening cause like if she’d been in another car crash on the way to the hospital. But that’s not what happened. While she didn’t die from her injuries, she died from a foreseeable risk of the accident, that because of her precarious medical condition, her body couldn’t fight off an infection that is in hospitals. As a result, he could be charged with murder here. Unfortunately for him, covid is also in jails where he’s awaiting trial.
From The Judge Group, I’m Amy E. Feldman for KYW News Radio.
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