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Voluntary Manslaughter: Provocation

By Baker Associates

Believe it or not, being convicted of voluntary manslaughter is often good news for many defendants, because it essentially means that they were not convicted of the more serious charge of first-degree murder. Like the more serious homicide offenses, voluntary manslaughter requires that the defendant kill the victim intentionally. The state of mind of the defendant at the time of the commission of the offense, however, is what constitutes the difference between the homicide offenses and will be the key to almost any criminal homicide case where it is clear from the outset that the defendant did indeed kill the victim. The defining characteristic of voluntary manslaughter is that it requires the defendant to have acted while ?in a state of passion produced by adequate provocation sufficient to lead a reasonable person to act in an irrational manner...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog on July 14, 2010 (boomark / email).