Indiana Pattern Jury Instructions – Criminal
CHAPTER 3 OFFENSES AGAINST THE PERSON (effective for crimes committed July 1, 2014 or after, unless otherwise noted)

Instruction No. 3.0540. Voluntary Manslaughter as Principal Charge.

I.C. 35-42-1-3.

The crime of voluntary manslaughter is defined by law as follows:

A person who knowingly or intentionally kills another [human being] [a fetus in any stage of development] while acting under sudden heat commits voluntary manslaughter, a Level 2 felony.

The existence of sudden heat is a mitigating factor that reduces what otherwise would be murder to voluntary manslaughter. In addition to the elements below, which the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, for the defendant to be found guilty the killing must have also been committed under sudden heat. Evidence of sudden heat may be found in either the State’s evidence or the Defendant’s. But to convict for voluntary manslaughter, there must be some evidence of sudden heat.

Before you may convict the Defendant, the State must have proved each of the following beyond a reasonable doubt:

1. The Defendant
2. knowingly or intentionally
3. killed
4. __________ [name] [a fetus in any stage of development.]

If the State failed to prove each of elements 1 through 4 beyond a reasonable doubt, you must find the Defendant not guilty of voluntary manslaughter, a Level 2 felony, charged in Count __________.]

 

[230711]