Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

Fla. Stat. § 782.071

Vehicular homicide

Known as the Partial-Birth Abortion Act

The act spans §§ 782–782 (17 sections).

Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case 331 Ill. App. 3d 70 - People v. Sienkiewicz (2002)

Most recently applied in Michael Roy Smith v. U.S. Attorney General (December 2020)

History.--s. 16, ch. 74-383; s. 6, ch. 75-298; s. 12, ch. 86-296; s. 14, ch. 96-330; s. 9, ch. 98-417; s. 1, ch. 99-153; s. 2, ch. 2001-147; s. 5, ch. 2014-194; s. 6, ch. 2025-121

How often courts cite this section

20022010202020
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

“Vehicular homicide” is the killing of a human being, or the killing of an unborn child by any injury to the mother, caused by the operation of a motor vehicle by another in a reckless manner likely to cause the death of, or great bodily harm to, another.

(1) Vehicular homicide is:

(a) A felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.

(b) A felony of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084, if:

1. At the time of the accident, the person knew, or should have known, that the accident occurred; and

2. The person failed to give information and render aid as required by s. 316.062.This paragraph does not require that the person knew that the accident resulted in injury or death.

(c) A felony of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084, if the person has a prior conviction under this section, s. 316.193(3)(c)3., 1s. 327.35(3)(a)3.c., or s. 782.072.

(2) For purposes of this section, the term “unborn child” has the same meaning as provided in s. 775.021(5).

(3) A right of action for civil damages shall exist under s. 768.19, under all circumstances, for all deaths described in this section.

(4) In addition to any other punishment, the court may order the person to serve 120 community service hours in a trauma center or hospital that regularly receives victims of vehicle accidents, under the supervision of a registered nurse, an emergency room physician, or an emergency medical technician pursuant to a voluntary community service program operated by the trauma center or hospital.

Official source: Online Sunshine (Florida Legislature). Reproduced from public-domain Florida statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.