Could a person be brought up on manslaughter for deliberately stressing an older person to death?

Question

I am looking to see if a manslaughter, or even murder charge, could be brought up on a person for the following:

A 54 year old woman (who I will call Cassie) has been raising her 27 year old med student daughter's 4 year old twins since birth. The daugher (who I will call Angela) divorced the twin's father when they were a few months old. Angela moved in with her mother and leaves Cassie to watch the kids by herself weekdays while she lives in the dorms. Many weekends she does not come to her children at all, and simply stays at school which is 1.5 hours away. Recently, on one of the weekends Angela came to the house, she and her younger sister had a fight which became a physical fight. Although the younger sister threw the first hit, Angela had verbally instigated the fight and approached in a threatening manner. The next day she fights with her older brother. In response to losing a verbal arguement she nearly breaks his computer and throws some of his property. He returns the favor a while later by throwing some of her things outside. Angela, is in fact, notorius with her abrasive, rude, and selfish mannerisms to everyone in the family. Angela wants retribution, and she wants her mother Cassie to deal the punishment to the brother and sister. The brother lives in the finished basement with his wife and 2 small childeren. The younger sister is staying in a room upstairs for a few months while her husband completes Officer and Ranger school in the Army. Angela wants her mother to kick her sister and brother out of the house permanently so she does not have to see them when she drops in for her few hours or days every weekend to see her children. Cassie does not comply. Angela immediately removes the children from her mother's house and care and places them in the University daycare and says Cassie will never see the children unless she meets her demands. She had also gotten her car stuck in the snow by spinning out into a ditch during her tantrum and attempt to depart the house and Angela has her mother help dig her car out (this was very physically demanding on Cassie). During the next few days she renews her threats, keeps calling her mother on the phone, placing blame with the mother, etc. and making her cry; deliberately building as much stress as possible. Angela is the source of many other stressors but that would be a bit too much detail here.

So here is the question. Angela is just shy of getting her medical degree from an acclaimed university, she's gotten honors and awards, has an MD finacee, so has an intimate knowledge of medical conditions, causes and effects. She is well aware of her mother's poor heath. Cassie is overweight, has high blood pressure, and other medical problems. The family has repeatedly asked her to stop deliberately stressing the mother as everyone fears this will kill her. Angela knows well that it might but persists in her behavior.

If Cassie dies of stroke or heartattack during this crisis, can Angela be held accountable and brought up on charges of manslaughter or murder?

Answer 1

This is a difficult question because of _causation_. A prosecutor would have to prove (under a charge like "depraved heart" murder, manslaughter, or negligent homicide) that at a minimum Angela was aware of a serious risk of serious bodily harm or death to Cassie, knowingly disregarded that risk, and that Angela's disregard was the cause in fact and proximate cause of her death. Simply being a difficult child is very different from acting in a way that a jury would say caused her mom's death in a legal sense. Perhaps if Angela did something particularly grotesque to Cassie, and as a result of that one action Cassie had a heart attack and died, you'd have a better causal nexus. But if I were Angela's attorney, I'd say that Cassie's refusal to exercise, or failure to take blood pressure pills, or her natural age was just as much of a contributing factor. It would probably take that one act -- that screaming at her for 30 minutes until she couldn't take it anymore and collapsed, that withdrawal of kids violently from her house coinciding with her death to bring charges.

Answer 2

According to the fact pattern that you gave me, the answer is a *maybe*.

Cassie may be in fact guilty of elder abuse. In some states, elder abuse is a felony. Virtually all states have a felony murder law, which states, (paraphrasing) that if a person dies as the result of another person committing a felony, the person who committed the felony can be found guilty of murder, even if they did not commit an act of homicide. Some states also require, as a condition to felony murder, that the accused must have known or should have known that their actions were potentially dangerous to the deceased. If Angela is a senior medical student, then she would be hard pressed to say that she is unaware of the dangers.

The state would have to prove that Angela was in fact abusing Cassie, and that the abuse caused or contributed to Cassie's death in some way. The first part may not be difficult to prove. However, proving that Cassie's heart attack or stroke was caused by Angela may be much more difficult. Here's why:

You've already stated in your fact pattern that Cassie is overweight, has high blood pressure, and has other medical problems. The defense would argue that Angela's actions did not cause her death, her death was caused by the culmination of her being overweight, having high blood pressure, and whatever medical problems she had. All that is needed to aquit is reasonable doubt, and this would be a difficult case to get to a jury.

NOW: Cases of elder abuse should NOT go unreported. If this is acually happening to someone you know, then you need to report this to the police and/or social service agencies. They have specialists who can intervene in this type of situation.

Answer 3

What a shitty whitetrash family. I doubt she is getting a Doctorate. maybe a Nursing degree.

Answer 4

No it is a natural cause.