Losing someone close to you is always a tough time, nothing makes much sense and not a lot of people know what steps to take. The trauma or grief of losing someone you love can make it tough for people to make sense as to how much they’ve lost be it emotionally and financially. It’s true that getting monetary compensation for a person’s death will never be enough to fill the void of a person. Choosing the right death attorney can help make the next steps easier and help in distinguishing between wrongful death and homicide. This is an important step in choosing your legal options and decide what you and your family can do next.
What is a Murder?
Murder is a criminal action where one person can purposefully cause harm or death to another person. As murder is against the law, the state presses murder charges against the individual who committed the crime. Murder is determined by intent, if a person’s intention is to harm another person, then they are guilty of murder. A murder conviction results in a lifetime prison sentence or in some states it can lead to the death penalty. Some murders can be considered wrongful death but not all wrongful death can be considered murders.
What’s a Wrongful Death?
A wrongful death happens whenever a person loses their life due to reckless actions and fault due to an individual or a government entity. Wrongful death can happen due to a person’s intent or it can be just because a person was reckless in their actions. Wrongful death claims are the civil suit that is filed by the family on behalf of the person that has died. If a person is found guilty of wrongful death, they usually have to pay certain compensation to the family of the deceased. During the wrongful death lawsuit, unless there are criminal charges, the defendant won’t face criminal penalties.
Distinguishing Between Murder and Wrongful Death
For murderers, there has to be proof of murder beyond doubt. This also suggests that to prove murder, the court has to believe that the defendant is 100% guilty of murder. In a wrongful death lawsuit, the wrongful death attorney has the burden to prove the wrongful death. As most wrongful deaths happen due to an accident or reckless actions, the proof has to be more than just proof of intent.
Can You File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against a Convicted Murderer?
It’s not very common but murder convictions can lead to a wrongful death lawsuit. If the defendant is a convicted murderer, then it is relatively easy to provide the burden of proof in the wrongful death suit. Unfortunately, as the end goal of suing for wrongful death is getting monetary compensation, filing a wrongful death claim against a convicted murder is worth the effort.
The first step is to choose a wrongful death law firm or a wrongful death attorney, which can help you guide you throughout the whole process. Unless the murderer has enough assets that can be soluble before you go to prison, the person filing the wrongful death cases may not be able to get the ideal compensation for the wrongful death.
