I'm not Conductor71, so you weren't replying to me, but the PDF guide for medical examiners does note it as a neutral term within a certain context:
"It is to be emphasized that the classification of Homicide for the purposes of death certification is a 'neutral' term and neither indicates nor implies criminal intent, which remains a determination within the province of legal processes." (pg. 6, https://netforum.avectra.com/temp/ClientImages/NAME/38c0f1d2-11ec-45c7-80ca-ff872d0b22bc.pdf)
If I understand correctly, not all homicides would be crimes. Killing someone in self-defense, for example, would qualify as a homicide as the manner of death, right? So I think the comment about neutrality is more about it being legally or criminally neutral – simply knowing one person killed another does not necessarily tell us that it is murder.
(Of course I hope everyone realizes I am not saying that we have such ambiguity in this particular case – I was strictly speaking about the above discussion of the general term.)
Thank you for your informative post. In a nutshell, although all murders are homicide, not all homicides are murder.