What is “criminal gross negligence”?
Does Trump’s handling of Covid-19 amount to criminal gross negligence? It almost sounds outlandish to suggest that a president of the United States could be guilty of criminal gross negligence. Unfortunately, the facts strongly support the idea. Black’s Law Dictionary defines gross negligence as “a conscious, voluntary act or omission in reckless disregard of a legal duty and of the consequences to another party.” Well, that pretty well describes Trump’s actions and the resulting deaths of American citizens.
There are 4 elements that must be established to prove gross negligence. Let’s break down each one, and see if it applies. The basic difference between gross negligence and simple negligence is intent. If you had a duty, and breached that duty by failing to take reasonable actions to prevent injury, you are guilty of negligence. However, if you have a duty and intentionally breach that duty, and demonstrate wanton disregard for those you have a duty to protect, then you are guilty of gross negligence. Trump has intentionally lied and deceived the American public in his constant attempts to downplay the severity of the coronavirus. The result of his actions is 130,000 dead Americans. Any legitimate court would find him guilty of criminal gross negligence resulting in death.
1. The Existence of a Legal Duty
In the plainest terms, element 1 requires that the defendant owes a legal duty to the plaintiff. For example, you don’t have a duty to be friendly to someone. However. you do have a duty to act with reasonable care, so as to not injure anyone. By mere virtue of the fact that he is president, he has a duty. In fact, he swore an oath to uphold that very duty. This element is easily established.
2. Causation: Did the Defendant’s Actions Hurt the Plaintiff(s)?
Well, there are more than 130,000 dead Americans, and most of those deaths could have been prevented. The counter argument here would be that the virus caused the deaths, not Trump. However, considering that hundreds of thousands of Americans became infected because of Trump’s intentional lies and deceit, the argument is easily made that he caused those injuries and deaths. In other words, were it not for his actions, those injuries and deaths would likely not have happened. Also, considering the deadly nature of the virus, it was “foreseeable” that his actions would result in harm and death. This element is also easily established.
3. Breach of Duty
Simply put, if the defendant owes a duty to the plaintiff(s) and did not fulfill that duty, he is in breach. Obviously, this is just a continuation of element 1. It is irrefutable that Trump had a duty to reasonably provide for the health and safety of every American. If Trump had taken every “reasonable” action to protect U.S. citizens, he would not be guilty of any form of negligence, even if millions of people died. However, Trump not only failed to fulfill his duty, he intentionally took actions to undermine the U.S. efforts to stop the pandemic. It is the “intentionally” part that makes him guilty of criminal gross negligence resulting in death.
4. Damages
The last element that needs to be proven is damages. In many negligence cases, damages can be hard to prove. This is not one of those cases. In fact, the difficulty in this cases would be quantifying the damages, as a monetary value would have to be assigned to human life, and many other intangibles like long term injuries and their ongoing effects. This would likely be one of the clearest cases of the actual “damages” element being proven.
Conclusion
Negligence is usually a civil, torts matter. When proven, monetary damages are typically awarded. However, in extreme cases, negligence can become a criminal matter. In cases where the defendant intentionally undertook negligent actions resulting in death, some courts have ruled that such negligence rises to the level of a criminal matter. In the U.K., for example, a criminal conviction for gross negligence manslaughter requires that the prosecutor prove 1.) a duty of care, 2.) breach of that duty by the defendant resulting in death, 3.) a risk of death that would be obvious to a reasonable prudent person in the position of the defendant.
Well, for Trump, 1.) he has a duty, 2.) he intentionally breached his duty 3.) any reasonable person could have foreseen that intentionally deceiving the public about the seriousness of Covid-19 would result in death. In short, no matter what country and no matter what state you tried this case in, an overwhelming case could be made that he is guilty of criminal gross negligence resulting in death. Even if you only attributed a small number of the deaths to his actions, they would total enough counts to put him in prison for the rest of his life.
– Rondym Kiefe