CA 572. Voluntary Manslaughter: Murder Not Charged

572. Voluntary Manslaughter: Murder Not Charged (Pen. Code, § 192(a))

The defendant is charged [in Count ___________ ] with voluntary manslaughter [in violation of Penal Code section 192(a)].

To prove that the defendant is guilty of voluntary manslaughter, the People must prove that:

1. The defendant committed an act that caused the death of another person;

[AND]

2. When the defendant acted, (he/she) unlawfully intended to kill someone(;/.)

<Give element 3 when instructing on self-defense or defense of another.>

[AND
3. (He/She) killed without lawful excuse or justification.]

Or the People must prove that:

1. The defendant intentionally committed an act that caused the death of another person;
2. The natural consequences of the act were dangerous to human life;
3. At the time (he/she) acted, (he/she) knew the act was dangerous to human life;

[AND]

4. (He/She) deliberately acted with conscious disregard for human life(;/.)

<Give element 5 when instructing on self-defense or defense of another.>

[AND
5. (He/She) killed without lawful excuse or justification.]

[An act causes death if the death is the direct, natural, and probable consequence of the act and the death would not have happened without the act. A natural and probable consequence is one that a reasonable person would know is likely to happen if nothing unusual intervenes. In deciding whether a consequence is natural and probable, consider all of the circumstances established by the evidence.]

[There may be more than one cause of death. An act causes death only if it is a substantial factor in causing the death. A substantial factor is more than a trivial or remote factor. However, it does not need to be the only factor that causes the death.]

New January 2006