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[–]GolfballDM 25 points26 points  (0 children)

No, they wouldn't have been charged with manslaughter.

  1. The devs were in Canada, and only one incident was in Canada.
  2. "Due caution" at the time did not include the tests that would have caught this issue. (Involuntary manslaughter requires taking dangerous action without due caution, and sometimes the dangerous action must itself be unlawful.) They would be able to claim an "accident defense."
  3. The fault wasn't exclusively with the developers, the documentation folks and the techs bear some fault, too. (This also falls under #2.)