Wanton endangerment in the first degree
Applied in 64 court decisions — leading case United States v. Howard (2000)
Most recently applied in Zanders v. Commonwealth (March 2019)
Effective: July 15, 2024 History: Amended 2024 Ky
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.
(1) A person is guilty of wanton endangerment in the first degree when, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he or she wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person.
(2) Wanton endangerment in the first degree is a Class D felony, unless the person discharges a firearm in the commission of the offense, in which case it is a Class C felony.
Official source: Kentucky General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain Kentucky statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.