In vehicular manslaughter cases, the driver of a vehicle must have caused the death of a passenger, pedestrian or someone in another vehicle involved in a wreck with the driver’s vehicle. The charge is based on the premise that the vehicle was used as a deadly weapon---just like a gun or knife---to take someone’s life. To prove vehicle manslaughter cases in U.S. courts, prosecutors have to show either: The driver was drunk at the time of the wreck; The driver disobeyed a traffic law that caused the wreck; The driver was otherwise negligent and at fault in the wreck. While in some cases vehicular manslaughter cases are misdemeanors, if the driver was drunk, the charges are almost automatically felonies. In some states, a DUI can add years onto a prison sentence. In some cases a murder charge can be added to a vehicular manslaughter charged, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).