## Facts

- Shirley Green, the unmarried mother of two children (Robert Lee and Anthony Lee), arranged for Mary L. Jones, a family friend, to take the children into Jones’s home to avoid family embarrassment.
- Jones housed Robert Lee and later Anthony Lee; evidence conflicted on whether Green lived with them, whether Jones was paid to care for the children, and whether Jones prevented Green from providing care.
- The children were found in severely neglected condition; Anthony Lee died from malnutrition or failure to receive adequate food and necessities.
- The prosecution’s theory was that Jones, despite having the means to obtain food and medical care, failed to provide necessities to Anthony, and that this omission caused his death.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court committed plain error by failing to instruct the jury that it must find beyond a reasonable doubt that Jones had a legal duty to provide care to Anthony before convicting her of involuntary manslaughter based on an omission.
2. Whether the evidence was legally insufficient to support a conviction for involuntary manslaughter predicated on failure to act.

## Decision

- The D.C. Circuit reversed Jones’s involuntary manslaughter conviction and remanded for a new trial.
- The court rejected the claim of evidentiary insufficiency, concluding a properly instructed jury could find a duty and breach on the record.
- The court held it was plain error not to instruct that omission-based criminal liability requires proof of a legal duty to act, and that the jury had to determine whether such a duty existed.

## Legal Principles

- Criminal liability for an omission may be imposed only when the neglected duty is a legal duty, not merely a moral obligation.
- A legal duty to act may arise from:
  - Statute;
  - A recognized status relationship (e.g., parent/guardian);
  - Contractual undertaking to provide care; or
  - Voluntary assumption of care coupled with seclusion of the helpless person so as to prevent others from rendering aid.
- When the prosecution relies on failure to act as the conduct element, the existence of a qualifying legal duty is an element that must be found by the jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Failure to instruct on an essential element that affects substantial rights can constitute plain error under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b).

## Conclusion

The court ordered a new trial because the jury was not instructed that it could convict for involuntary manslaughter based on an omission only if it first found Jones had a legally recognized duty to provide Anthony Lee with necessities, a disputed factual question central to the case.


Jones v. United States, 308 F.2d 307 (D.C. Cir. 1962)