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Voluntary Manslaughter
Written by Administrator Friday, 15 August 2008 16:52 |
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Voluntary Manslaughter
The definition of voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being after ‘adequate provocation’ in which the offender had no prior intent to kill and acted in the “heat of passion.” The circumstances that led up to the killing must be something that would have caused a reasonable person to become mentally or emotionally disturbed, otherwise the person who committed the crime could be charged with first degree or second degree murder. Also, the time between provocation and the actual killing should not be long enough for the passion to have subsided.
Most states define ‘adequate provocation’ to be situations where there is a threat of deadly force, or when the person finds their spouse in bed with another. In most cases the provocation must induce anger or rage in the defendant, although there have been cases where terror, fright, or desperation have been present. Verbal threats are most often not considered adequate provocation.
If adequate provocation can be established, the murder charge may be reduced from voluntary manslaughter to a charge of manslaughter. For a voluntary manslaughter charge to be reduced four conditions must be met: (1) the provocation must have caused the reasonable person to react with fear or rage; (2) the person who did the killing had to have actually been provoked; (3) at no point from the time of being provoked to the time of the killing should enough time elapsed that would allow a reasonable person time to cool off; and (4) the defendant did not cool off during that period.
Provocation is considered justifiable if a reasonable person would be induced to act in the same manner of the defendant if found in the same or similar circumstances. There is no precise formula in order to determine reasonableness. Reasonableness is determined by the trier of fact, either by the judge in a non jury trial, or a jury, but after full consideration of all the evidence.
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 05 September 2008 10:57 ) | |
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