S192644, P. v. Beltran

Criminal law: heat of passion (as defined in California): what kind of provocation will suffice to constitute heat of passion and reduce a murder to manslaughter? The Attorney General argues the provocation must be of a kind that would cause an ordinary person of average disposition to kill.  We disagree.  Nearly one hundred years ago, this court explained that, when examining heat of passion in the context of manslaughter, the fundamental “inquiry is whether or not the defendant’s reason was, at the time of his act, so disturbed or obscured by some passion . . . to such an extent as would render ordinary men of average disposition liable to act rashly or without due deliberation and reflection, and from this passion rather than from judgment.”  (People v. Logan (1917) 175 Cal. 45, 49 (Logan).)  The proper standard focuses upon whether the person of average disposition would be induced to react from passion and not from judgment (Cal. S. Ct., 03.06.2013, S192644, P. v. Beltran).

Droit pénal: agir sous l'emprise d'une passion, notion de passion : il convient d'examiner si l'état mental du prévenu, au moment de l'acte, était à ce point perturbé ou obscurci par la passion que toute personne ordinaire de composition moyenne, à sa place, aurait agi dans la précipitation ou sans réflexion, autrement dit aurait agi de cette passion et non de son propre jugement. Du moins est-ce l'analyse en droit californien lorsque se pose la question de savoir si l'élément subjectif de l'acte passionnel permet ou non de requalifier l'infraction de meurtre en " manslaughter".