Under California Penal Code Section 192, criminal charges for voluntary manslaughter happen when a person is suspected of having unlawfully killed another person after a sudden quarrel, in the heat of the moment, or in an imperfect self-defense situation. It is a felony, punishable by up to 11 years in prison. A conviction for voluntary manslaughter also results in life-altering consequences that can continuously affect different aspects of your life for years.
However, you could influence the outcome of your case through proper defense with our help at Leah Legal Criminal Defense Attorney. We have extensive experience handling all kinds of violent crimes in Los Angeles. With our assistance, you can convince the court to reduce or dismiss your charges.
The Meaning of Voluntary Manslaughter According to California Law
A person’s life is sacred and highly protected by the law. That is why there are strict laws against harming another person. When a person loses their life at the hands of another person, prosecutors usually bring murder or manslaughter charges, depending on the exact particulars of the case. Murder is the most severe form of this crime, but it can be reduced to manslaughter if you did not premeditate the killing of the person. The prosecutor must also consider the precise details of the case to decide whether to charge you with voluntary or involuntary manslaughter. All these crimes are serious, but with different penalties under California Penal Law.
Voluntary manslaughter, as legally defined under California Penal Code Section 192, happens if you unlawfully cause the killing of a person under any of the following situations:
- During a heated quarrel or in the heat of the moment
- When you honestly but unreasonably believe that you are in danger and need to defend yourself
The prosecutor must establish the circumstances of your crime carefully to decide the right charges to bring against you in court. When the case comes up in a trial, they must ensure that the details of your case satisfy the legal definition of the crime. The legal definition of voluntary manslaughter is contained in the elements or facts of the crime, which the prosecutor must prove to find you guilty. These facts are:
- That a person provoked you
- Because of the provocation, you took a rash action or made a rash decision that resulted in the death of a person.
- The intense emotional feeling you had at the time obscured your reasoning or judgment.
- The provocation you felt then would cause any other reasonable person to behave the way you behaved at the time, passionately and without rational judgment.
This means there is no specific way for a prosecutor to file criminal charges for voluntary manslaughter. For example, they can file charges if you take the life of someone else in an imperfect self-defense situation. This occurs when you act rashly but unreasonably because you genuinely believe you are in danger, only to realize later that you overreacted. The prosecutor can also file charges when you act in the heat of the moment, in the heat of passion, or after experiencing an intense emotion. An intense emotion or sudden heat of anger can cause you to act impulsively, harming another person.
In most cases, voluntary manslaughter happens immediately after the provocation, when there is usually no time for a person to plan pr premeditate a murder. If you take time off to cool after the provocation, to think rationally, but still end up killing the person, the prosecutor will instead file murder charges against you.
Examples of Situations that Can Lead to Voluntary Manslaughter Charges
Here are some situations that prosecutors in California can consider as voluntary manslaughter:
- Using excessive force against an unarmed person in an altercation
- A husband walking in on his cheating wife and stabbing them in anger
- Reacting violently against a person who is making fun of you, killing them in an instant
- A parent hitting and killing a person they suspect is a danger to their child
- Using more force than necessary against a person who is threatening to harm you
- Reacting violently in an argument, lethally harming the other person
- Helping a person who has sought your assistance in suicide
- Killing a person in the heat of passion, after learning about their betrayal
Possible Penalties for a Voluntary Manslaughter Conviction
Voluntary manslaughter is a straight felony, punishable by three (3), six (6), or eleven (11) years in prison. However, the judge can impose a maximum felony probation sentence of 5 years. Probation carries a mandatory minimum jail sentence of 1 year. If sent on probation, the judge will put the probation department in charge of your case. They will also set probation conditions that you should abide by while on probation. The position officer will ensure that you abide by all the set conditions. Examples of conditions you should abide by include the following:
- Meeting regularly with the probation officer for progress reports, the officer will submit your progress report to the judge.
- Not engaging in crime or being arrested during the probation period
- Engaging in community work for a predetermined number of hours
- Enrolling in a counseling or drug treatment program if it applies in your case
- Paying restitution to the victim of your crime, where applicable
- Adhering to a travel or movement restriction
You must adhere to all conditions of probation for the duration of your felony probation. Violating one or multiple conditions will likely result in serious consequences. When it occurs, the probation officer must report to the judge. The court will schedule a probation violation hearing to evaluate the severity and nature of the violation. From that hearing, they can make one of these resolutions:
- To keep you on probation, and on the same probation conditions, but include a warning against more violations.
- To change the terms and conditions of your probation to new and stricter ones, and continue it
- To cancel your probation sentence and send you to prison as recommended by the law.
Enhanced Penalties When a Gun Is Used
The use of a firearm or any other dangerous weapon to commit voluntary manslaughter aggravates the crime. This means that it increases your culpability and makes the offense even more severe. That is why judges enhance penalties when a gun is used. In this case, the judge can add three (3), four (4), or ten (10) years to the original prison sentence. Additionally, the use of a gun can result in the following consequences:
- It can result in a violation being treated as a strike according to the California Three-Strike law. Thus, it will affect subsequent convictions that count as strikes on your record. If this is your first trike, you will be subject to the penalties required by law. However, if it is the second strike, you will receive twice the penalties under the voluntary manslaughter law. A third strike is punishable by 25-to-life imprisonment.
- The court will charge you a court fine of up to $10,000
- You automatically lose your right to use, possess, or purchase a firearm under California Penal Code Section 29800
- If granted felony probation, you must serve a mandatory jail sentence of up to one year. You must also undergo counseling or anger management classes during probation.
Other Consequences of a Conviction Under PC 192
In addition to the criminal penalties of a conviction for voluntary manslaughter, you will likely face other consequences, including the following:
A Ban on Your Gun Rights
A conviction for any felony, according to California Penal Law, will likely cause you to lose your gun rights. Convicted felons are a part of the categories of people who are not legally allowed to purchase, use, or possess a firearm. Thus, you automatically lose your gun rights once the court gives a guilty verdict in your case. If you are a firearm holder, you must surrender the weapons in your possession to avoid violating the law.
A Damaging Criminal Record
A conviction for voluntary manslaughter will result in a serious criminal history that will affect various areas of your life for years. For example, it could affect your ability to find suitable employment, even after serving your sentence and attaining full rehabilitation. This is because a felony conviction remains on your criminal history for life, and criminal records are publicly available. Anyone running a background check on your name, including a potential employer, can make a hiring decision based on what they find.
A bad criminal record will also affect your suitability for housing services. Landlords also run background checks on potential tenants before renting or leasing properties to them. You could miss out on the opportunity to live in your preferred neighborhood because of your criminal record.
A serious criminal record also affects how people relate to you. There is a lot of stigma that comes with a criminal record, especially if it is of a serious felony. It could be difficult for people, including close friends nd family members, to trust you again after the conviction.
That is why you should put more effort into developing a solid defense against your charges to avoid a conviction. An experienced criminal defense attorney can help you with this. They can counter the prosecutor’s allegation or evidence, or present mitigating factors to trigger a favorable verdict in the case. Some of the mitigating factors that could help your case include the following:
- Proving that you do not have a serious criminal record to compel the court to be more lenient during sentencing
- Proving that the provocation was so serious that any reasonable person in the same position as you would have reacted the way that you did
- Demonstrating that you have been very cooperative with the police and the court since the beginning of your case
Using mitigating factors in your defense could convince the judge to reduce your charges to a charge with less severe penalties.
How To Fight Voluntary Manslaughter Charges
An arrest for a voluntary manslaughter charge will likely result in a criminal trial. This is when the prosecution presents its case against you to convince the court to give a guilty verdict. You are also allowed to present a valid defense against your charges for a more favorable outcome. Working with an experienced attorney is advisable because they can use the best defense strategies to reduce or dismiss your charges. Some of the strategies that could trigger a favorable verdict in your case include the following:
You Acted in Self-Defense or Defense for Others
You are legally allowed to use reasonable force against another person if your safety or the safety of another person is threatened. Self-defense is mainly used in most violent crimes if the alleged perpetrator only used force because they were afraid for their safety or the safety of another person. However, courts accept this defense if there is proof that you used reasonable force according to the danger you were facing at the moment. If you use more force than necessary and someone else is harmed, you could be convicted of a serious crime.
If the danger you or someone else faced at the time forced you to use force against the alleged victim, and you accidentally killed them, you can apply this defense strategy to compel the court to drop your charges. You can prove that you feared death, suffering a serious bodily injury, or being maimed, robbed, raped, or being a victim of any other cruel or forcible crime. Your skilled attorney can use evidence to prove this, including eyewitness accounts, surveillance videos, or your treatment records, to show that you also sustained injuries in the altercation. If the court accepts that your use of deadly force was necessary, considering the danger you were facing, it will dismiss your charges.
You Had a Legal Insanity
If you were not in your right mind or senses when you caused the death of a person, your skilled attorney can fight for a favorable result in your case by using this defense strategy. It could be that you were undergoing a stressful time when the crime happened, or had previously been diagnosed with a mental illness that affected your emotional or mental well-being. Having a legal insanity means that, although you used excessive force against another person, you could not understand the nature and severity of your actions at the time. It could also mean that because of an underlying mental illness, you could not understand that your actions were morally wrong.
Legal insanity is a widely accepted defense strategy in most violence-related crimes. It applies in cases where people engage in crimes, not because they are bad people, but because of an underlying emotional or mental issue. However, your skilled attorney needs an expert witness to testify in court that your actions or general behavior meet the legal meaning of insanity. Since insanity is a common issue, juries and judges are very receptive to this kind of defense strategy. However, only a certified medical expert can provide a valid evaluation of a person’s mental health to prove their mental or emotional status when they committed the crime.
Your Actions Were Accidental
The legal definition of voluntary manslaughter includes a deliberate action that results in the death of a person. Although most voluntary murders happen in the heat of passion or after a serious provocation, you must have taken a deliberate action against the alleged victim. If your actions were not deliberate but accidental, the circumstances of your case will not satisfy the legal definition of your crime. Your skilled attorney can use that to convince the court to drop your charges.
If you accidentally kill another person in the heat of the moment, you could be innocent of all charges, or could be guilty of involuntary manslaughter, which is a less severe charge/. The exact charge, or action by the prosecutor or court, will depend on the exact details of your case.
This defense technique can work in a situation where someone loses their life due to your actions, but there is proof that you did not intend to harm them. It can work if there is proof that, although you took action against the victim, you did not act negligently. It can also be used in cases where a person causes the killing of another person while performing a legal action.
In this case, your skilled attorney needs irrefutable evidence that your actions were accidental rather than deliberate. They can call in an eyewitness, use video surveillance of the accident scene, or medical records showing the actual cause of the victim’s death. If there is proof that the injuries on the alleged victim were not deliberately inflicted on them, the court can dismiss your charges.
Voluntary Manslaughter Vs. Murder and Involuntary Manslaughter
Murder, voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter are all closely related because they are crimes that result in the unlawful death of a person. However, they differ and are used in different situations depending on the specific details of a case. A murder happens when there is malice aforethought, or premeditation, before the killing of a person, while manslaughter happens when there is a killing without malice aforethought. Malice aforethought is present when your actions demonstrate the following:
- A premedication or the intent to take another person’s life. It could be that you expressed this intent to the victim or another person before the killing happened.
- A serious or wanton disregard of a person’s life, or implied malice
When a person loses their life due to another person’s or people’s actions, the prosecutor must consider the exact circumstances of the case to decide whether to file murder or manslaughter charges. If it is a manslaughter, the prosecutor must either determine whether to file voluntary or involuntary manslaughter charges.
Remember that voluntary manslaughter happens when there is the intentional killing of another person. Involuntary manslaughter happens when the killing is unintentional or accidental. However, the latter must involve a criminal aspect or the involvement of another person to be considered a crime. If a person accidentally loses their life, and no one is criminally liable for their death, the prosecutor does not file criminal charges. For this reason, involuntary manslaughter charges happen under these circumstances:
- When the death of a person occurs because of a criminal act that is not inherently dangerous
- When a person loses their life while another person is performing a lawful act
What this means is that murder is the most severe crime of the three, followed by voluntary manslaughter, and then involuntary manslaughter. However, this does not make involuntary manslaughter a minor crime.
According to California Penal Code Section 187, murder is a felony that is punishable by 25 years to life (first-degree murder) and 15 years to life in prison (second-degree murder). Voluntary manslaughter, which is also a felony, is penalized by three (3), six (6), or eleven (11) years in prison. Involuntary manslaughter is also a felony, and is punishable by two, three, or four years in prison.
If you face murder charges, you can fight for it to be reduced to a voluntary manslaughter charge with the help of your skilled attorney. This is one way to get a favorable outcome in a murder case. You can also fight a voluntary manslaughter charge into an involuntary manslaughter charge to avoid a lengthy prison sentence.
Find a Competent Criminal Defense Attorney Near Me
Are you or someone you know facing voluntary manslaughter charges in Los Angeles?
Working closely with a skilled criminal attorney can help you obtain a favorable result in your case. An attorney can also make the criminal process smooth, defend your rights, and help with the appeal if the court’s final ruling is unfavorable.
Our competent attorneys at Leah Legal Criminal Defense Attorney have years of experience handling a wide range of violent crimes. We can ensure that you understand the gravity of your charges, the possible outcomes, and the right defense to achieve a fair outcome. We can also defend your rights and guide you through all court processes to ensure your peace of mind. Call us at 213-444-7818 to discuss our services and your needs in detail.
