Penal Code § 192 PC – Voluntary Manslaughter – California Law

Under California Penal Code § 192 PC, voluntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being that occurs either:

• during a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion or
• based on an honest but unreasonable belief in the need to defend yourself (called “imperfect self-defense“).

Voluntary manslaughter is a felony carrying a sentence of:

• 3, 6, or 11 years in California State Prison or
• probation with up to 1 year in county jail.

Following a suspected homicide, prosecutors usually bring murder rather than manslaughter charges. However, we have a long track record of convincing prosecutors to reduce murder down to manslaughter. We also have seen murder trials where the jury rejects the murder allegation and instead delivers a manslaughter conviction or an outright acquittal.

In this article, our Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys will address the following key issues regarding California voluntary manslaughter laws:

• 1. Elements
• 2. Examples
• 3. Defenses
• 4. Penalties
• 5. Murder and Involuntary Manslaughter
• 6. Related Crimes
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Additional Reading

1. Elements

There are two ways you can be prosecuted for voluntary manslaughter in California under PC 192.

The first is that you allegedly killed a person in “imperfect self-defense.” This means you genuinely thought you or others were in grave physical danger, but your thoughts were unreasonable under the circumstances, and your killing was an overreaction.

The second way you can be charged with voluntary manslaughter is that you killed a person upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion. “Heat of passion” means any violent or intense emotion that causes a person to act impulsively.

To prove that you committed voluntary manslaughter upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion, the D.A. has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt these three elements:

1. You were provoked, and
2. As a result of being provoked, you acted rashly and under the influence of intense emotion that obscured your reasoning or judgment,² and
3. The provocation would have caused an average person to act rashly and without due deliberation – that is, from passion rather than from judgment.³

Usually in these cases, the killing occurs right after the provocation, and there was no time to premeditate the killing. If you had time after the provocation to “cool off” and regain your ability to think rationally, any ensuing killing would be considered murder rather than manslaughter.⁴

2. Examples

California law generally considers the following homicide scenarios as voluntary manslaughter rather than murder:

1. Using lethal force against an unarmed pickpocket.
2. The murder suspect of a beloved relative smirks at you in court, and in a heat of passion you run over and strangle them.⁵
3. Walking in on your spouse cheating and in a sudden rage stabbing them.⁶
4. A parent killing someone they unreasonably believe is a threat to their child.
5. Unnecessarily using lethal force in self-defense during a physical altercation.
6. Assisting suicide, even if the person consented to your assistance.
7. Responding to “fighting words” with lethal force.

Some of the most common voluntary manslaughter cases we see in our experience involve heat of passion killings in response to learning of a massive betrayal, such as infidelity or a financial scam.

3. Defenses

Here at Shouse Law Group, we have represented countless people facing homicide allegations. In our experience, the following three defenses are very effective at persuading prosecutors to reduce or dismiss voluntary manslaughter charges.

1) You Were Acting in Self-Defense/Defense of Others

California’s self-defense laws allow you to kill another person to protect yourself or another person from:

• being killed,
• suffering great bodily injury, or
• being raped, maimed, robbed, or the victim of some other forcible and atrocious crime.

These laws allow you to take whatever steps a reasonable person would take (including deadly force) to protect against the above harms.⁷

When we claim self-defense for our clients, we compile all the available evidence, including video surveillance footage, eyewitness accounts, and medical records of your injuries (if any), to show that you had been attacked.

2) You Were Legally Insane

Under an insanity defense, a criminal defense attorney attempts to show that you were legally insane at the time of the killing. Under the “McNaghten rule, “insanity” means that you:

• did not understand the nature of your criminal act or
• did not understand that what you were doing was morally wrong.⁸

We reserve the insanity defense for cases where we can get the best expert witnesses in the industry to testify under oath that you met the legal definition of insanity at the time of the killing. Judges and juries are very receptive to credentialed and persuasive medical experts with long track records of assessing people’s mental states.

3) The Killing Was an Accident

You are not guilty of voluntary manslaughter if you killed someone by accident. The defense works provided that you:

1. had no criminal intent to do harm, and
2. were not acting negligently at the time of the accident, and
3. were otherwise engaged in lawful behavior at the time of the accidental killing.⁹

The most persuasive evidence we use to show that the killing was accidental comes from surveillance video, eyewitness reports, and medical records to show that any injuries were not purposely inflicted.

4. Penalties

Voluntary manslaughter is a felony in California. The court can either:

• grant probation with up to one year in county jail or
• deny probation and impose a 3-, 6-, or 11-year term in state prison.

Note that if a firearm was used, the court can order an additional three, four, or 10 years in prison.¹⁰

A conviction can also result in:

• a strike on your record under California’s three-strikes law,
• a maximum $10,000 fine,
• the loss of the right to own or possess a firearm under PC 29800,
• community service, and/or
• counseling services (such as anger management classes).

In order to convince the judge to grant the laxest sentence possible, we present to the court all the available mitigating circumstances. Examples are:

• you have no other criminal record,
• any reasonable person in your position would have acted the same way, and
• you have been a model and cooperative defendant.

We have also had cases where we convinced the D.A. to reduce the original murder charge down to manslaughter, which carries much lesser penalties than murder.

5. Murder and Involuntary Manslaughter

The major difference between murder and manslaughter in California is that murder is killing a human being with malice aforethought whereas manslaughter is killing a human being without malice aforethought.¹¹ “Malice aforethought” exists when you act with either:

• premeditation or an intent to kill (known as express malice) or
• a wanton disregard for human life (known as implied malice).¹²

Meanwhile, the main difference between voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter in California is that voluntary manslaughter is an intentional killing whereas involuntary manslaughter is an unintentional killing. Specifically, involuntary manslaughter is unintentional killing while committing either:

• a crime that was not an inherently dangerous felony or
• a lawful act that might produce death.

Predictably, voluntary manslaughter is a less serious homicide offense than murder but a more serious one than involuntary manslaughter, as the following table shows.

CALIFORNIA LAW	Murder	Voluntary Manslaughter	Involuntary Manslaughter
Penal Code Section	PC 187	PC 192(a)	PC 192(b)
Malice aforethought	Yes	No	No
Intent to kill	Yes	Yes	No
Premeditation	Yes (1st degree) / No (2nd degree)	No	No
Provocation or heat of passion	No	Yes	No
Criminal negligence	No	No	Yes
Sentencing	15 years to life (2nd degree) / 25 years to life (1st degree)	3, 6, or 11 years	2, 3, or 4 years
Possible defenses	Self-defense, defense of others, insanity, accident	Self-defense, defense of others, insanity, accident	Self-defense, defense of others, insanity, accident

6. Related Crimes

Attempted Murder – PC 664/187(a)

Per Penal Code 664/187a PC, attempted murder is planning to kill someone and taking a direct step towards the killing, but the intended victim does not die.

Vehicular Manslaughter – PC 192c

Under Penal Code 192c PC, vehicular manslaughter is driving in a negligent or unlawful manner, thereby causing the death of another person. This can be a misdemeanor or a felony.

Watson Murder – PC 187

Per Penal Code 187 PC, Watson DUI murder is having a prior California DUI conviction and killing someone while driving under the influence.

As with a conviction of voluntary manslaughter, a Watson murder conviction can result in a potential strike on your record under California’s three-strikes law.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is voluntary manslaughter a “strike” offense?

Yes. Voluntary manslaughter is classified as a “serious” and “violent” felony under California law. Therefore, a conviction counts as a “strike” on your record for purposes of California’s Three Strikes Law.

Can I get probation instead of prison?

Possibly. While voluntary manslaughter carries a potential state prison term of 3, 6, or 11 years, the judge has the discretion to grant probation with up to one year in county jail instead of sending you to prison.

What is “imperfect self-defense”?

Imperfect self-defense occurs when you kill someone because you honestly believed you were in imminent danger, but your belief was considered unreasonable. This defense can reduce a murder charge to voluntary manslaughter by negating the element of malice.

Will a conviction affect my gun rights?

Yes. A conviction for voluntary manslaughter is a felony, which results in a lifetime ban on owning, possessing, or purchasing firearms in California.

Additional Reading

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• (Wo)Manslaughter: Voluntary Manslaughter, Gender, and the Model Penal Code – Emory Law Journal.
• Are There Circumstances Other than Provocation which May Reduce Murder to Voluntary Manslaughter – Kentucky Law Journal.
• What Future for Voluntary Manslaughter? – The Journal of Criminal Law.
• Manslaughter and the Adequacy of Provocation: The Reasonableness of the Reasonable Man – University of Pennsylvania Law Review.
• The psychology and law of voluntary manslaughter: what can psychology research teach us about the “heat of passion” defense? – Behavior Decision Making.
• Some Provoking Aspects of Voluntary Manslaughter Law – Common Law World Review.

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