Opinion ID: 1341743
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Voluntary Manslaughter Jury Charge

Text: Voluntary manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being in the sudden heat of passion upon sufficient legal provocation. State v. Cole, 338 S.C. 97, 525 S.E.2d 511 (2000). Both heat of passion and sufficient legal provocation must be present at the time of the killing. Id. The provocation must be such as to render the mind of an ordinary person incapable of cool reflection and produce an uncontrollable impulse to do violence. See id. The trial judge in this case should not have given a voluntary manslaughter jury charge because the record contained no evidence to support a finding of sufficient legal provocation. The law to be charged must be determined from the evidence presented at trial. State v. Lee, 298 S.C. 362, 380 S.E.2d 834 (1989). The State argues the following evidence supported giving the voluntary manslaughter charge: 1. Defendant and Victim were arguing throughout the afternoon of the killing; 2. The argument was over Defendant's belief that Victim was having an adulterous affair; 3. At one point in the argument, Defendant fired the gun in the backyard and then threatened to kill Victim; and 4. Defendant and Victim were arguing minutes before the gunshot that killed Victim. The State points to no evidence of Victim provoking Defendant other than her role in the alleged argument with Defendant. Furthermore, the State erroneously focuses on Defendant's firing the gun in the backyard. Defendant's own actions, no matter how outrageous or violent, cannot legally provoke himself. If we accept the State's theory of what happened that afternoon, the argument between Defendant and Victim was about alleged marital infidelity. While adultery may, in some instances, serve as sufficient legal provocation to warrant a voluntary manslaughter charge, spousal adultery is not a license to kill. See State v. Gadsden, 314 S.C. 229, 233, 442 S.E.2d 594, 597 (1994). In general, South Carolina has allowed marital infidelity to support a charge of marital voluntary manslaughter only when the killer finds the other spouse and paramour in a guilty embrace or flagrantly suggestive situation. See State v. Herring, 118 S.C. 386, 110 S.E. 668 (1922); but see State v. Martin, 216 S.C. 129, 57 S.E.2d 55 (1949)(finding evidence of the husband's belief that the deceased had repeatedly and violently raped his wife and was then taunting them supported a voluntary manslaughter charge). The killing must also happen so soon after the discovery of the affair that the spouse does not have time to coolly reflect on the situation. See Gadsden, 314 S.C. at 233, 442 S.E.2d at 597. The State's theory, even if true, is insufficient to warrant a charge of voluntary manslaughter because the State made no allegation that Defendant actually encountered Victim in an adulterous situation. At most, Victim may have confessed to adultery, an admission we find very unlikely due to the lack of any evidence produced at trial of Victim having an affair. Furthermore, a verbal confession of adultery, no matter what the content, would be insufficient to warrant a voluntary manslaughter charge. See State v. Byrd, 323 S.C. 319, 322, 474 S.E.2d 430, 432 (1996)(Where death is caused by the use of a deadly weapon, words alone, however opprobrious, are not sufficient to constitute a legal provocation.). Therefore, even if the State's allegations about the argument are taken as true, they do not support the giving of a voluntary manslaughter charge because the allegations do not rise to the level of sufficient legal provocation.