Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

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.” Tennessee law holds that if a person is found to have acted in the heat of passion then he or she could not also have possessed the requisite malice to commit a more serious murder offense. To act in a state of passion requires that a defendant act in the heat of the moment, on sudden impulse of anger due to some sort of adequate provocation (e.g., catching one’s spouse in the act of infidelity) that would motivate an ordinary person to act rashly without deliberating or assessing the situation.

Whether a defendant acted in the heat of passion rather than in a premeditated act of murder is a question for the jury. Thus, it is essential that a defendant in a homicide trial make as compelling a case as possible in order to demonstrate to the jury that he or she was provoked n such a manner as to cause them to act in the heat of the moment. An experienced criminal defense attorney will provide a defendant with the best chance of doing so by making a persuasive and effective presentation to the jury emphasizing the distinctions between voluntary manslaughter and a more serious homicide charge.