voluntary manslaughter

Voluntary manslaughter is, in US law, the unlawful killing of a human being committed without malice aforethought, because it occurs in the heat of the moment or in response to a sudden provocation. The concept differs decisively from murder, where planned or deliberate intent is the central element. The federal statutory basis is 18 U.S.C. § 1112, which defines voluntary manslaughter as a killing committed 'upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion'. The provision applies within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and the penalty is a fine, imprisonment for up to 15 years, or both.

In practice, to obtain a conviction for voluntary manslaughter rather than murder, the prosecution must have the court accept that the defendant acted under a genuine and immediate emotional reaction to a provocation — and that there was no time for a rational person to have 'cooled down' and regained self-control. The shorter the interval between the provocation and the act, the stronger the argument for heat of passion.

In the Jason Corbett case, in which the Irish businessman was killed in Davidson County, North Carolina in 2015, his wife Molly Martens and her father Tom Martens were convicted of second-degree murder in 2017; the defence had argued that they acted in self-defence. The conviction was later overturned, and in 2023 the two pleaded 'no contest' to voluntary manslaughter.

Voluntary manslaughter exists as a category in the legislation of most US states, although the precise definitions and penalty ranges vary from state to state. North Carolina has its own state codification of the concept, which in practice follows the same basic distinction between an act committed in the heat of passion and a premeditated killing as the federal provision.