Vermont Manslaughter Laws: Voluntary, Involuntary and DUI Deaths

Vermont has one manslaughter statute, and it sets a penalty without defining the crime. Under 13 V.S.A. 2304, "a person who commits manslaughter shall be fined not more than $3,000.00 or imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than 15 years, or both," and the Vermont Supreme Court takes the elements of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter from the common law.

Manslaughter is a felony because its maximum term is more than two years (13 V.S.A. 1). Deaths caused by driving are charged under Title 23: grossly negligent operation with a death (23 V.S.A. 1091(b)), up to 15 years, and impaired driving with a death (23 V.S.A. 1210(f)), 1 to 15 years, and both sections say they do not limit a manslaughter prosecution. For other states, see our guide to manslaughter laws by state.

Information last verified on October 18, 2026. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Vermont criminal statutes on homicide below murder: manslaughter (13 V.S.A. 2304) and its common-law voluntary and involuntary forms, the 2021 limit on victim-identity defenses in 13 V.S.A. 6566, negligent and grossly negligent operation with a death (23 V.S.A. 1091), impaired driving with a death (23 V.S.A. 1210(f)), boating under the influence with a death (23 V.S.A. 3317(f)), leaving the scene and eluding deaths (23 V.S.A. 1128 and 1133), selling or dispensing a regulated drug with death resulting (18 V.S.A. 4250), and the parole, habitual-offender and weapon rules that reach these offenses. It does not cover murder (see how long a life sentence is in Vermont and murder sentencing guidelines), self-defense (see Vermont self-defense laws), civil lawsuits over a death (see Vermont wrongful death), or federal offenses (see the manslaughter laws hub).

What is manslaughter in Vermont?

Vermont's homicide chapter, Title 13, chapter 53, contains murder and its degrees (2301 to 2303), "Manslaughter-Penalties" (2304), justifiable homicide (2305), a lesser-offense rule (2310) and aggravated murder (2311), among a few other sections (chapter 53). None of them defines manslaughter. The Supreme Court said so directly in State v. Viens, 2009 VT 64, 186 Vt. 138:

"We have looked to the common law to supply the elements of the crime of involuntary manslaughter because our manslaughter statute, 13 V.S.A. §2304, does not define the offense."

Vermont's case law recognizes two forms:

• Voluntary manslaughter: a killing without malice, such as one committed "with a real design and purpose to kill, but through the violence of sudden passion occasioned by some great provocation" (State v. Shaw, 1998).
• Involuntary manslaughter: a death caused by conduct that is at least criminally negligent (Viens, 2009).

Under 13 V.S.A. 2310(a), a person charged with an offense in the homicide chapter "may be convicted of a lesser included offense, as the case may be, upon the proofs." There is no time limit on charging manslaughter: under 13 V.S.A. 4501(a), a prosecution for manslaughter "may be commenced at any time after the commission of the offense."

Under 13 V.S.A. 1, "any offense whose maximum term of imprisonment is more than two years, for life, or which may be punished by death is a felony. Any other offense is a misdemeanor." That is why negligent operation with a death, capped at 2 years, is a misdemeanor while every other row is a felony. For more on the felony line, see Vermont felony and misdemeanor classes.

Is manslaughter a felony in Vermont, and what is the sentence?

Yes. Manslaughter carries a fine of up to $3,000, imprisonment of not less than one year and not more than 15 years, or both (13 V.S.A. 2304). The statute is written in the alternative: a fine, imprisonment, or both. The same range covers voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. The section's history line ends with 1981, No. 205 (Adj. Sess.).

Voluntary manslaughter: heat of passion and provocation

State v. Shaw, 168 Vt. 412 (1998), quoting State v. Turgeon (1996), describes heat-of-passion manslaughter as "the unlawful killing of another, without malice ... as when the act is committed with a real design and purpose to kill, but through the violence of sudden passion occasioned by some great provocation." The court restated it in four parts:

"(1) adequate provocation; (2) inadequate time to regain self-control or 'cool off'; (3) actual provocation; and (4) actual failure to 'cool off.'"

The test of adequate provocation is objective: "the loss of self-control must be reasonable under the circumstances." Shaw also identified a second way to negate malice: "In Vermont, there are at least two ways in which malice may be negated in the context of a homicide prosecution. The first is by reason of sudden passion or provocation; the second is by reason of a defendant's diminished capacity."

Shaw rejected one doctrine some states use to reach manslaughter: "We hold that the doctrine of imperfect self-defense is not recognized in Vermont." The court added that "the Legislature is in a better position to determine which, if any, of these options Vermont should recognize." Self-defense and justification are covered on the Vermont self-defense laws page.

The 2021 ban on victim-identity defenses

13 V.S.A. 6566, added by 2021, No. 18, effective May 5, 2021, applies in any prosecution or sentencing:

"In a prosecution or sentencing for any criminal offense, the following shall not be used as a defense to the defendant's criminal conduct, to establish a finding that the defendant suffered from diminished capacity, to justify the defendant's use of force against another, or to otherwise mitigate the severity of the offense: (1) evidence of the defendant's discovery of, knowledge about, or the potential disclosure of the crime victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, including under circumstances in which the victim made a nonforcible, noncriminal romantic or sexual advance toward the defendant; or (2) evidence of the defendant's perception or belief, even if inaccurate, of the gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation of a crime victim."

Involuntary manslaughter: criminal negligence and recklessness

Involuntary manslaughter requires at least criminal negligence. Viens (2009), drawing on State v. Stanislaw (1990), gave the standard:

"Defendant must have disregarded a risk of death or injury of such a nature and degree that [his] failure to perceive it, considering the nature and purpose of his conduct and the circumstances known to him, involves a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the actor's situation."

The same opinion held that no separate unlawful act is needed: "Post-Stanislaw, it is unnecessary to consider whether an act is independently unlawful; instead, any act undertaken by a defendant in a criminally negligent fashion that results in the death of another may subject the defendant to criminal liability for involuntary manslaughter."

Recklessness also suffices. State v. Brooks, 163 Vt. 245 (1995) described criminal negligence as occurring "when the actor should be aware that a substantial and unjustifiable risk exists or will result from his conduct," and added that "both recklessness and criminal negligence require an objective view of the risk; the difference is one of degree."

Vehicular manslaughter and DUI deaths in Vermont

Vermont has no offense named vehicular manslaughter or vehicular homicide. Deaths caused by driving fall under the negligent-operation and impaired-driving statutes in Title 23, and each says a manslaughter prosecution remains available.

Negligent and grossly negligent operation (23 V.S.A. 1091)

Section 1091 has two tiers:

• Grossly negligent operation (1091(b)). "A person who operates a motor vehicle on a public highway in a grossly negligent manner shall be guilty of grossly negligent operation," judged by "whether the person engaged in conduct that involved a gross deviation from the care that a reasonable person would have exercised in that situation." If "serious bodily injury to or death of any person other than the operator results, the operator shall be imprisoned for not more than 15 years or fined not more than $15,000.00, or both," and the operator may be convicted of a separate violation for each decedent or person injured.
• Negligent operation (1091(a)). If serious bodily injury to or death of any person other than the operator results, "the operator shall be subject to imprisonment for not more than two years or to a fine of not more than $3,000.00, or both."

Subsection 1091(c) reads: "The provisions of this section do not limit or restrict the prosecution for manslaughter."

Impaired driving with a death (23 V.S.A. 1210(f))

The DUI offense in 23 V.S.A. 1201(a) bars operating, attempting to operate, or being in actual physical control of any vehicle on a highway when the person's alcohol concentration is 0.08 or more (0.02 for a school bus and 0.04 for a commercial vehicle), or when the person is under the influence of alcohol, another drug, or a combination. For this subchapter, "vehicle" includes a snowmobile and an all-terrain vehicle when on a public highway (23 V.S.A. 1200(6)). Refusing a law enforcement officer's reasonable request for an evidentiary test after a crash resulting in serious bodily injury or death to another, where the officer has reasonable grounds to believe the driver has any amount of alcohol or drugs in their system, is itself a violation of 1201 (1201(c)).

Under 1210(f)(1), "if the death of any person results from a violation of section 1201 of this title, the person convicted of the violation shall be fined not more than $10,000.00 or imprisoned not less than one year nor more than 15 years, or both. The provisions of this subsection do not limit or restrict prosecutions for manslaughter."

Repeat offenders face a minimum. Under 1210(f)(3)(A), where a death results and the person "previously has been convicted two or more times" of a 1201 violation, the sentence must "include at least a five-year term of imprisonment," which "shall be served and may not be suspended, deferred, or served as a supervised sentence." Subdivision (3)(B) lets the court impose a lesser sentence, or none, "if the court makes written findings on the record that such a sentence will serve the interests of justice and public safety."

License consequences. After a DUI conviction "in cases resulting in a fatality or serious bodily injury to a person other than the defendant, the period of suspension shall be one year and until the defendant complies with section 1209a," compared with 90 days for an ordinary first conviction (23 V.S.A. 1206). A third or subsequent DUI conviction brings revocation for life (23 V.S.A. 1208(b)). For DUI penalties where no one died, see Vermont DUI laws.

The DUI statutes were most recently amended by 2025, No. 41 (effective July 1, 2025) and 2025, No. 64 (effective June 12, 2025); subsection 1210(f) reads as quoted above.

Leaving the scene and eluding police

• Leaving the scene. Under 23 V.S.A. 1128(c), "if death results from the crash, a person violating subsection (a) of this section shall be fined not more than $3,000.00 or imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than 15 years, or both." See Vermont hit-and-run laws.
• Eluding a police officer. Under 23 V.S.A. 1133(b)(4)(A), "in the event that death to any person other than the operator is proximately caused by the operator's knowing violation of subsection (a) of this section, the operator shall be imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than 15 years or fined not more than $10,000.00, or both." 2025, No. 18, sec. 42 (a technical-corrections act effective May 13, 2025) reprinted this subsection; the current text is quoted here.
• Driving after a suspension for a fatal-crash offense. A person whose license was suspended or revoked for a violation of 1091(b) or 1128(b) or (c), among others, who drives before the suspension expires "shall be imprisoned not more than two years or fined not more than $5,000.00, or both" (23 V.S.A. 674(a)(1)).

Boating under the influence with a death

Under 23 V.S.A. 3317(f)(1)(A), "if the death of any person results from the violation of section 3323 of this title, the person convicted shall, instead of any other penalty imposed in this section, be imprisoned not less than one year nor more than 15 years or fined not more than $10,000.00, or both; but the provisions of this section shall not be construed to limit or restrict prosecutions for manslaughter." Section 3323 bars operating a vessel with 0.08 percent or more alcohol in the blood, under the influence of alcohol, or under the influence of any other drug or a combination of alcohol and another drug "to a degree that renders the person incapable of operating safely" (23 V.S.A. 3323).

Selling or dispensing a drug with death resulting

Under 18 V.S.A. 4250(a), "if the death of a person results from the selling or dispensing of a regulated drug to the person in violation of this chapter, the person convicted of the violation shall be imprisoned not less than two years nor more than 20 years." The two-year minimum "shall be served and may not be suspended, deferred, or served as a supervised sentence," and the defendant is not eligible "for probation, parole, furlough, or any other type of early release until the expiration of the two-year term" (4250(c)(1)), unless the court "makes findings on the record that the sentence will serve the interests of justice" (4250(c)(2)). 2023, No. 125 (Adj. Sess.), sec. 17, effective July 1, 2024, changed only the wording of subsection (b).

Other offenses graded by a resulting death

• Permitting an impaired person to operate, death results, 23 V.S.A. 1130(d)(2): up to 2 years, a fine up to $5,000, or both.
• Railroad vandalism resulting in death or serious bodily injury, 13 V.S.A. 3110(d)(3): up to 15 years, a fine up to $20,000, or both; aggravated railroad vandalism (3110(f)): up to 15 years, a fine up to $25,000, or both.
• Furnishing alcohol to a person under 21 who, while operating a motor vehicle, snowmobile, vessel or all-terrain vehicle in the places the statute lists, causes death or serious bodily injury, 7 V.S.A. 658(d)(1): up to 5 years, a fine up to $10,000, or both.
• Dispensing cannabis to a person under 21 who, while operating a motor vehicle on a public highway, causes death or serious bodily injury as a result, 18 V.S.A. 4230f(d): up to 5 years, a fine up to $10,000, or both.
• Running a locomotive or engine on another's railroad without the owner's consent, where a resulting train collision kills someone, 5 V.S.A. 3727: the statute says the engineer or other person "shall be guilty of manslaughter."
• False alarm of fire or other emergency where bodily injury or death results, 13 V.S.A. 1751(b): up to 5 years, a fine up to $2,000, or both, without preventing a greater sentence for any degree of homicide.
• Installing a counterfeit or nonfunctional airbag, or an object in place of one, where serious bodily injury or death results, 13 V.S.A. 2026(c): up to 15 years, a fine up to $10,000, or both.
• Aggravated human trafficking where the victim suffers serious bodily injury or death, 13 V.S.A. 2653: 20 years to life, a fine up to $100,000, or both.
• Arson causing death, 13 V.S.A. 501: graded as first-degree murder.

Sentencing details: parole, habitual offenders and weapons

Parole. "If the inmate's sentence has a minimum term, the inmate shall be eligible for parole consideration after the inmate has served the minimum term of the sentence" (28 V.S.A. 501(2)). Presumptive parole under 28 V.S.A. 501a is not available to an inmate serving a sentence "for committing a crime specified in 33 V.S.A. § 5204(a)" (501a(7)), a list that includes manslaughter under 13 V.S.A. 2304.

Earned time. The earned-time program is available to sentenced offenders, with exceptions such as offenders on probation or parole or sentenced to life without parole, and offenders "shall earn a reduction of seven days in the minimum and maximum sentence for each month" without a major disciplinary violation or a reincarceration for violating release conditions (28 V.S.A. 818(b)(1)-(2)). "Voluntary manslaughter in violation of 13 V.S.A. § 2304" is a "disqualifying offense" (818(c)(1)(B)), and for a person convicted of a disqualifying offense, participation is governed by 818(b)(5), under which an offender "serving a sentence for a disqualifying offense on January 1, 2021 shall not earn any earned time sentence reductions." The list names voluntary manslaughter only; involuntary manslaughter is not on it.

Habitual offender. A person "three times convicted" of felonies, in Vermont or elsewhere, who "commits a felony other than murder within this State, may be sentenced upon conviction of such fourth or subsequent offense to imprisonment up to and including life" (13 V.S.A. 11). Manslaughter is a felony other than murder.

Weapons. Carrying "a dangerous or deadly weapon, openly or concealed, while committing a felony" is a separate offense punishable by up to 5 years, a fine up to $500, or both (13 V.S.A. 4005(a)). Manslaughter under 2304 is a "listed crime" (13 V.S.A. 5301(7)(L)), so a person convicted of it may not possess a firearm; a violation carries up to 2 years, a fine up to $1,000, or both (13 V.S.A. 4017). That firearm bar excludes convictions for impaired driving with death (1210(f)), negligent or grossly negligent operation with death (1091(b)) and leaving the scene with death (1128(b) or (c)).

Registration. Vermont's registry chapter is the Sex Offender Registry (13 V.S.A. chapter 167), and its definitions section (13 V.S.A. 5401) does not mention manslaughter (13 V.S.A. 5401).

Recent changes

• May 5, 2021: 2021, No. 18 added 13 V.S.A. 6566, barring the use of a victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity as a defense or to mitigate an offense.
• July 1, 2024: 2023, No. 125 (Adj. Sess.) changed the wording of 18 V.S.A. 4250(b) without changing the penalty; 2023, No. 85 (Adj. Sess.) reworded 23 V.S.A. 1206(a) and left the fatality suspension in 1206(b) unchanged.
• May 13 to July 1, 2025: 2025, No. 18 (technical corrections) reprinted 23 V.S.A. 1133(b); 2025, No. 64 (June 12, 2025) and 2025, No. 41 (July 1, 2025) amended the DUI subchapter, including 1201 and 1210, without changing the death penalty text in 1210(f).

The manslaughter penalty in 2304 has not changed since 1981, and 23 V.S.A. 1091 was last amended by 2019, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.).

Federal law (18 U.S.C. 1112) separately covers manslaughter on federal land and in other places under federal jurisdiction; the manslaughter laws hub explains it.

Leading Vermont cases

• State v. Shaw, 168 Vt. 412 (1998): heat-of-passion manslaughter requires adequate provocation, inadequate time to cool off, actual provocation and actual failure to cool off, judged objectively; the court held that "the doctrine of imperfect self-defense is not recognized in Vermont."
• State v. Viens, 2009 VT 64, 186 Vt. 138: because 13 V.S.A. 2304 does not define involuntary manslaughter, the common law supplies it; criminal negligence is the minimum culpability, and no independently unlawful act is required.

Related Vermont laws

• Manslaughter laws by state
• Vermont DUI laws
• Vermont hit-and-run laws
• Vermont self-defense laws
• Vermont felony and misdemeanor classes

This article provides general legal information about Vermont law, not legal advice. Statutes and court decisions change, and how they apply depends on the facts. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Vermont.

Last updated: October 18, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is manslaughter a felony in Vermont?

Yes. Manslaughter carries up to 15 years under 13 V.S.A. 2304, and 13 V.S.A. 1 makes any offense with a maximum term of more than two years a felony.

What is the sentence for manslaughter in Vermont?

A fine up to $3,000, imprisonment of not less than one year and not more than 15 years, or both (13 V.S.A. 2304). The same range applies to voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

What is the difference between voluntary and involuntary manslaughter in Vermont?

Voluntary manslaughter is a killing without malice, such as an intentional killing in sudden passion after adequate provocation (State v. Shaw, 1998). Involuntary manslaughter is a death caused by at least criminally negligent conduct (State v. Viens, 2009). Both are punished under 13 V.S.A. 2304.

What is the penalty for a DUI death in Vermont?

Under 23 V.S.A. 1210(f), 1 to 15 years, a fine up to $10,000, or both, plus a one-year license suspension under 1206(b). With two or more prior DUI convictions, the sentence must include at least 5 years unless the court makes written findings that a lesser sentence serves justice and public safety. A manslaughter charge is not barred.

Does Vermont have a vehicular manslaughter or vehicular homicide law?

Not by those names. Driving deaths are charged as grossly negligent operation with a death (23 V.S.A. 1091(b), up to 15 years), negligent operation with a death (1091(a), up to 2 years), or impaired driving with a death (1210(f)), and each section preserves manslaughter prosecutions.

Does Vermont recognize imperfect self-defense?

No. In State v. Shaw (1998), the Vermont Supreme Court held that the doctrine of imperfect self-defense is not recognized in Vermont. Malice may still be negated by sudden passion or provocation, or by diminished capacity.

Is selling drugs that cause a death a crime in Vermont?

Yes. Under 18 V.S.A. 4250, if a person's death results from the selling or dispensing of a regulated drug to that person in violation of Title 18, chapter 84, the seller faces 2 to 20 years, with a 2-year minimum unless the court makes interests-of-justice findings.