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Manslaughter

Manslaughter is the act of killing another human being in a way that is less culpable than murder. See Homicide.

Under both the common law and the Pennsylvania Method of differentiating degrees of murder, manslaughter was divided into voluntary and involuntary manslaughter:

  • •Voluntary manslaughter is intentionally killing another person in the heat of passion and in response to adequate provocation.
  • •Involuntary manslaughter is negligently causing the death of another person.

Under the Model Penal Code, manslaughter includes:

  • •Reckless homicide
  • •Homicide that would be murder, but "is committed under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there is reasonable explanation or excuse."

See Model Penal Code § 210.3

"Manslaughter is distinguished from murder by the absence of malice, one of murder's essential elements.  To establish malice or malice aforethought in a homicide prosecution, the government must prove that the defendant killed intentionally or recklessly with extreme disregard for human life."

"If the defendant killed with the mental state required for murder (intent to kill or recklessness with extreme disregard for human life), but the killing occurred in the heat of passion caused by adequate provocation, then the defendant is guilty of voluntary manslaughter.  The finding of heat of passion and adequate provocation negates the malice that would otherwise attach."

"By contrast, the absence of malice in involuntary manslaughter arises not because of provocation induced passion, but rather because the offender's mental state is not sufficiently culpable to meet the traditional malice requirements.  Thus, involuntary manslaughter is an unintentional killing that evinces a wanton or reckless disregard for human life but not of the extreme nature that will support a finding of malice."

United States v. Paul, 37 F.3d 496, 499 (9th Cir. 1994) (quotation marks and citation omitted).