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Vehicular Manslaughter in New York - Rachel Kugel · BSPE Legal Marketing Podcast

• 0:00
  Vehicular Manslaughter in New York When a fatal crash involves an impaired driver, the legal consequences can reach far beyond a traffic violation and into felony homicide territory.
• 0:10
  In New York, vehicular manslaughter generally applies when a driver causes another person's death while operating a vehicle in violation of intoxicated- or drug-impaired-driving laws.
• 0:21
  Prosecutors must establish a direct connection between the driver's unlawful operation and the death that followed, making these cases far more complex than a simple accident.
• 0:32
  The relevant offenses are defined under New York Penal Law Sections 125.12, 125.13, and 125.14, each carrying its own elements, aggravating factors, and serious penalties.
• 0:46
  Vehicular manslaughter in the second degree is a Class D felony, carrying a maximum sentence of up to seven years in prison along with mandatory license revocation.
• 0:56
  A charge can be elevated to vehicular manslaughter in the first degree, a Class C felony with up to fifteen years in prison, when specific aggravating factors are present.
• 1:06
  Those aggravating factors include a blood alcohol concentration of 0.18 percent or higher, a prior DWI conviction within ten years, causing the death of more than one person, or having a child passenger aged fifteen or younger who dies in the crash.
• 1:21
  The most serious charge is aggravated vehicular homicide, a Class B felony that requires proof of reckless driving on top of second-degree vehicular manslaughter, and it carries up to twenty-five years in prison.
• 1:33
  Across all three charges, a conviction can also result in felony fines of up to five thousand dollars and restitution for qualifying losses suffered by the victim's family.
• 1:43
  Vehicular manslaughter differs from criminally negligent homicide in a critical way — it is built on the driver's impairment as the aggravating factor that transforms a fatal crash into a felony.
• 1:55
  Because these are felony charges, preserving chemical-test records, vehicle data, and other crash evidence from the very beginning can play a decisive role in how a defense is built.
• 2:05
  Prosecutors typically use breath tests, toxicology reports, and accident reconstruction to construct their case, but each of those pieces can be scrutinized and challenged by a skilled lawyer.
• 2:16
  Rachel Kugel is a criminal defense attorney who has spent her career defending people accused of alcohol- and drug-related driving offenses, including cases that carry homicide-level exposure.
• 2:26
  Even small factual differences in a fatal crash can determine whether the charge is second-degree vehicular manslaughter, first-degree vehicular manslaughter, or aggravated vehicular homicide, and understanding that distinction matters enormously.
• 2:40
  Call The Kugel Law Firm at 212, 372, 7218, located at 111 E 125th St 2nd Fl, New York, NY 10035, United States, to schedule a free consultation with Rachel Kugel and discuss your defense today.