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Manslaughter Vs Involuntary Manslaughter

This document provides an overview and analysis of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. It discusses how manslaughter originally was one crime but later was divided into voluntary and involuntary categories. It defines the key elements of both voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, including actus reus, mens rea, circumstances, causation/result. For voluntary manslaughter, it specifically examines the element of adequate provocation. It provides examples of different types of adequate provocation and the objective test of cooling off time. It also discusses the two main types of involuntary manslaughter - criminal negligence manslaughter and unlawful act manslaughter.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
184 views10 pages

Manslaughter Vs Involuntary Manslaughter

This document provides an overview and analysis of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. It discusses how manslaughter originally was one crime but later was divided into voluntary and involuntary categories. It defines the key elements of both voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, including actus reus, mens rea, circumstances, causation/result. For voluntary manslaughter, it specifically examines the element of adequate provocation. It provides examples of different types of adequate provocation and the objective test of cooling off time. It also discusses the two main types of involuntary manslaughter - criminal negligence manslaughter and unlawful act manslaughter.

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Salt Lake Community College

Signature Assignment Fall 2017

Voluntary Vs. Involuntary Manslaughter

Hannah Sommer

Criminal Justice 1330

Brett Terpstra

December 14th, 2017


Sommer | 1

Abstract

The Criminal Law textbook states, Manslaughter, like murder, is an ancient common

law crime created by judges, not by legislators (Samaha, 330). Manslaughter is the killing

another person whether or not it's involuntary or involuntary. Manslaughter originally was just

one crime overall but later on manslaughter was created to be involuntary or involuntary.

Another quote used by the textbook describing this awful act, Manslaughter is...the unlawful

killing of another, which may be either voluntarily upon a sudden heat, or involuntarily...where

one had not intent to do another any personal mischief (Samaha, 331). These two type of

manslaughters have common elements, and elements that define them individually. Their are

different cases and different types. The laws for manslaughter are put in place, defined and

redefined for a reason and that is for our community.


Sommer | 2

For centuries, we have been creating laws and readjusting them. Manslaughter is one of

these ancient law crimes. When manslaughter first became a crime, it was an ancient common

law crime that was created by judges, and not by legislators. Now that time has passed by,

manslaughter has become two crimes and not just one. Manslaughter has been broken into

voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. Blackstone states, Manslaughter is...the

unlawful killing of another, which may be either voluntarily upon a sudden heat, or

involuntarily...where one had no intent to do another any personal mischief (Samaha, 331).

Both of these crimes consist of different types of involuntary and voluntary manslaughter. They

both consist of the elements Actus Reus, Mens Rea, Circumstances, and the result. They both

also have many examples and cases that pertain to both involuntary and voluntary manslaughter.

Blackstone quotes, Manslaughter arises from the sudden heat of the passions, murder from the

wickedness of the heart (Samaha, 330). Manslaughter, like murder, is killing another person.

Voluntary manslaughter is all about the being in the moment. Voluntary manslaughter

happens when a person gets so angry in the moment that the worst is brought out in them by

killing a person. Blackstone states, If upon a sudden quarrel two persons fight, and one of them

kills the other, this is [voluntary] manslaughter. And, so it is, if they upon such an occasion go

out and fight in a field, for this is one continued act of passion and the law pays that regard to

human frailty, as not to put a hasty and deliberate act upon the same footing with regard to guilt.

So also a man be greatly provoked, as by pulling his nose, or other great indignity, and

immediately kills the aggressor, though this is not excusable, since there is no absolute necessity

for doing so to preserve himself, yet neither is it murder for there is no previous malice
Sommer | 3

(Samaha, 331). As with any other crime, proof is required for voluntary manslaughter. Their

needs to be proof of the actus reus, mens rea, causation, and death. The last element required is

the adequate provocation.

There are five elements regarding voluntary manslaughter that needs to be proven. The

first is the actus reus which is seeing if the act of killing another person is indeed voluntary. The

second element is mens rea which consists of proofing either of two things. The first being the

intent to kill and the second to inflict serious bodily harm. The third element is the circumstance

which requires three things to happen as listed in Criminal Law, killing in sudden heat of

passion, adequate provocation or honest (but not reasonable) belief that the killing was in

self-defense (Samaha, 331). The fourth element is adequate provocation in which is part of the

circumstance. The fifth and final element is death. You need to check if their was factual and

legal cause along with the result of death.

Adequate provocation is an element in voluntary manslaughter that is not an element in

murder. Adequate provocation is the actuate that starts the killing. Adequate provocation as

defined by the textbook Criminal Law is the requirement that the provocation for killing in

anger has to be something the law recognized, the defendant himself had to be provoked, and

that a reasonable person would have been provoked (Samaha, 332). Adequate provocation is

basically when a person puts all reasoning in their mind to their side and instead act on their

emotion. Adequate provocation itself has three elements which are as follows: (1) It has to be a

provocation that the law recognizes. (2) The defendant himself has to be provoked (subjective

provocation). (3) The provocation has to be one that would provoke a reasonable person under

the circumstances in this case (objective provocation (Samaha, 332). Four type of adequate
Sommer | 4

provocation [mutual combat (fighting), assault and battery, trespass, and adultery] are recognized

by many laws today and by common law. There are times when provocation is excluded when

their is a cooling off period. If a person has enough time to cool off so that his outrage to kill

someone dies off and still kills them then the adequate provocation is eliminated and this is

considered murder instead of manslaughter. This is known as objective test of cooling off time.

A great example of this objective test of cooling off time is the familiar case, Case v. Flory. This

case involves three main people; E.T. Ostrum, his daughter Daisy Flory and her husband Charles

Flory. Flory would farm in the summer and in the winter he was a trapper. Flory left to go

trapping and while he was trapping Ostrum stayed at the Florys fam in Montana. Once Charles

returned from trapping, Ostrum also returned to his farm fifty miles away in Wyoming.

Eventually, Daisy got the courage to tell Charles that she was raped by her father while he was

away trapping. Charles had a sudden heat of passion, grabbed a gun he had, walked all day,

stayed over night at Mr Hudsonpillars house, and the next morning walked to his father in laws

house. The two men got in a heated argument, and Charles being so angered under the

circumstances shot Ostrum. The jury originally convicted Charles of second-degree murder but

got appealed ruling that Charles did not have enough time to reasonably cool down and so his

crime was then reduced to voluntary manslaughter rather than murder. This case shows just how

the cooling off period for a person and a crime can change. This case also shows the element of

adequate provocation from the sudden heat of passion that Charles had after finding out his wife

was raped by her own father.

Involuntary manslaughter is the opposite of voluntary manslaughter. Voluntary

manslaughter is intentionally killing a person where involuntary manslaughter is unintentionally


Sommer | 5

killing a person. Blackstone states, The second brand, or involuntary manslaughter...is where a

person does an act lawful in itself, but in an unlawful manner and without due caution and

circumspection: as when a workman flings down a stone or piece of timber into the street and

kills a man (Samaha, 341). Involuntary manslaughter has two main elements like voluntary

manslaughter has its main element of adequate provocation. The main elements for involuntary

manslaughter is the actus reus and the mens rea. It also includes two other elements circumstance

and the causation/bad result.

The actus reus of involuntary manslaughter is if the act of killing a person was voluntary.

The mens rea of involuntary includes two things like the mens rea of voluntary manslaughter but

instead of focusing on the intent, it instead focuses on (1) the extreme recklessness and (2) the

extreme negligence. The element circumstance includes three items which are as follows: (1)

conscious creation of substantial and unjustifiable risk of death or serious bodily injury or (2)

unconscious creation of substantial and unjustifiable risk of death of death or serious bodily

injury or (3) death occurs during the commission of a qualifying unlawful act (Samaha, 342).

The final element is the same element for voluntary manslaughter; the causation and bad result.

The element, for involuntary manslaughter, causation requires factual and legal cause and then

bad result meaning death occurs.

There are two main types of involuntary manslaughter which all depends on the case and

the state. The first being criminal negligence manslaughter and the second being unlawful act

manslaughter. Criminal negligence manslaughter is a person who kills someone and acts with

such a significant and inexcusable risk but ignores the possibility of someone being seriously

harmed or killed. and acts to kills. Criminal negligence manslaughter includes two elements
Sommer | 6

which is stated in Criminal Law. The first element is actus reus, the defendants acts create a

high (substantial and unjustifiable) risk of death or serious bodily injury (Samaha, 343). The

second element is mens rea, the defendant is aware that the risk of death or serious bodily injury

is high but commits the acts anyway (Samaha, 343). An example of recklessness and negligence

is similar to getting a ticket. A person who drives at fifteen above the speed limit is driving

recklessly because they know that they are creating a high risk of harm by driving that fast. A

person who drives at fifteen above the speed limit is driving negligently because they should

know that they are creating a high risk of harm but dont actually know its a risk. This example

is the same for criminal negligence manslaughter. A person is reckless when they know that their

could be harm or death caused to a person but still acts to cause harm or death. A person is

negligent when they should know that their could be harm or death caused to a person but does

not know and still acts to cause harm or death. An example of criminal negligence manslaughter

is the case of State v. Mays. This case is described as, 19-year-old Nicholas Mays killed

Michael Boumer, in a grocery store parking, when Mays messes with him by nudging

Boumer with his car (Samaha, 343). In this case, Mays thought Boumer was under the influence

but did not know Boumer was actually handicapped. Mays wanted to offer a ride and wanted to

nudge him to do so but instead of nudging Boumer with the car, he ended up killing him. Mays

made the decision to drive the car and nudge Boumer which was reckless and was negligent

while doing so. Nicholas Mays was, therefore, driving the car recklessly and negligently which

resulted in the death of Michael Boumer.

The other type of manslaughter is unlawful act manslaughter. This manslaughter are

unintended deaths that results in acts that is not authorized by the law (aka unlawful acts).
Sommer | 7

Criminal Law states, In modern times, statues have restricted unlawful act manslaughter

because the penalty is considered to harsh. In fact, theres a trend to abolish unlawful act

manslaughter, leaving criminal negligence manslaughter as the only kind of involuntary

manslaughter. This manslaughter is often also called misdemeanor manslaughter because the

unintended deaths can also result from misdemeanors. Unlawful acts and misdemeanors include

everything from simple traffic violations to administrative crimes. The most popular of

misdemeanors include drunk driving, speeding and driving, assault and battery. Criminal Law

provides an example of this in the case People v. Datema, Greg and Pamela Datema were

sitting around in their living room with friends talking, smoking pot, and drinking. The

conversation turned to their previous romances. Pam and Greg started arguing about the people

theyd slept with. Pam claimed shed had sex with some of her paramours in front of their sons.

Greg slapped her in the face-once. Pam slumped back; the other three thought shed passed out.

After 10 minutes, they got worried. When they shook her and she didnt wake up, they called for

an ambulance. Pam never regained consciousness. The medical examiner found that Pam

Datema had a blood-alcohol level between. 0.03 and 0.05 percent. He stated that death was by a

tear in an artery in the head that occurred as the result of Gregs slap (Samaha, 346). Slapping

his wife, Pam, while they were doing an unlawful act is an example of unlawful act

manslaughter. Unlawful act manslaughter or also known as misdemeanor manslaughter currently

only exists in half the states in the United States since they are working to try to abolish this form

of manslaughter. Unlawful act manslaughter includes a malum prohibitum crimes which means

that the death has to be foreseeable in the unlawful act.


Sommer | 8

Manslaughter has two different forms; involuntary manslaughter and voluntary

manslaughter. Manslaughter has elements in common but involuntary and voluntary

manslaughter have different elements itself as well. The purpose of having two different types of

manslaughter is to mainly determine whether the manslaughter was, in fact, voluntary or

involuntary. Manslaughter is a crime that has existed since common law and has a good reason

for it to exist. These laws are put in place to make the United States of America a safer place.

Blackstone states, Crime...is not simply anything which a legislature chooses to call a crime. It

is not simply antisocial conduct which public officers are given a responsibility to suppress. It is

not simply any conduct which the legislature chooses to attach a criminal penalty. It is conduct

which...will incur a formal and solemn pronouncement of the moral condemnation of the

community (Samaha, 10). Laws are not just put in place to be there. Laws are not just for fun or

to make life harder. Laws, like manslaughter, are put into place for our community.
Sommer | 9

Works Cited

Blackstone, Sir William. Commentaries on the Laws of England, IV. Oxford: Clarendon

Press, 1769.

Casetext, casetext.com/case/state-v-flory-7.

Samaha, Joel. Chapter 9 Manslaughter. Criminal Law, 11th ed., Wadsworth, 2014.

Unlawful Act - Legal Definition. Unlawful Act Dictionary Definition | Unlawful Act

Defined, www.yourdictionary.com/unlawful-act.

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