Voluntary manslaughter occurs when a person intentionally kills another
person after adequate provocation; that is, there has been action that
was sufficient to incite an ordinary person to sudden and intense
passion such that s/he loses self-control. It should be noted that the
time between provocation and the killing should not be long enough for
the passion to have cooled off.
In most states, adequate
provocation is limited to the passion aroused by situations like a
threat of deadly force, or at least physical, force or by finding a
spouse in bed with another person. Oral threats are usually not
considered adequate provocation.
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