Concealment of Accidental Death Law and Legal Definition
Accidental death refers to a death resulting from an unusual event that was unanticipated by everyone involved. Concealment of accidental death is a punishable offense and any person who having knowledge of an accidental death, actively conceals or attempts to conceal that death, shall be guilty. Concealment can be by concealing the corpse or doing acts that prevents someone from discovering the body and the like.
The following is an example of a State Statue (California) on Active concealment of accidental death:
Cal Pen Code § 152 Active concealment of accidental death
(a) Every person who, having knowledge of an accidental death, actively conceals or attempts to conceal that death, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(b) For purposes of this section, "to actively conceal an accidental death" means any of the following:
(1) To perform an overt act that conceals the body or directly impedes the ability of authorities or family members to discover the body.
(2) To directly destroy or suppress evidence of the actual physical body of the deceased, including, but not limited to, bodily fluids or tissues.
(3) To destroy or suppress the actual physical instrumentality of death.
