2021 Georgia Code
Title 16 - Crimes and Offenses
Chapter 5 - Crimes Against the Person
Article 1 - Homicide
§ 16-5-2. Voluntary Manslaughter

1. A person commits the offense of voluntary manslaughter when he causes the death of another human being under circumstances which would otherwise be murder and if he acts solely as the result of a sudden, violent, and irresistible passion resulting from serious provocation sufficient to excite such passion in a reasonable person; however, if there should have been an interval between the provocation and the killing sufficient for the voice of reason and humanity to be heard, of which the jury in all cases shall be the judge, the killing shall be attributed to deliberate revenge and be punished as murder.
2. A person who commits the offense of voluntary manslaughter, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than 20 years.

(Laws 1833, Cobb's 1851 Digest, pp. 783, 784; Ga. L. 1858, p. 99, § 1; Code 1863, §§ 4222, 4223; Code 1868, §§ 4259, 4260; Code 1873, §§ 4325, 4326; Code 1882, §§ 4325, 4326; Penal Code 1895, §§ 65, 66; Penal Code 1910, §§ 65, 66; Code 1933, §§ 26-1007, 26-1008; Code 1933, § 26-1102, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1.)

- For article recommending more consistency in age requirements of laws pertaining to the welfare of minors, see 6 Ga. St. B. J. 189 (1969). For annual survey of criminal law and procedure, see 35 Mercer L. Rev. 103 (1983). For note, "Edge v. State: The Modified Merger Rule Comes Up Short," see 44 Mercer L. Rev. 697 (1993). For comment on Gaines v. Wolcott, 119 Ga. App. 313, 167 S.E.2d 366 (1969), see 21 Mercer L. Rev. 325 (1969).

ANALYSIS

• General Consideration
• Unlawfulness
• Provocation
• Mutual Combat
• Defenses
• Jury Charge
• Application

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 40A Am. Jur. 2d, Homicide, § 48 et seq.

- 40 C.J.S., Homicide, § 112 et seq.

- Acquittal on charge as to one as bar to charge as to the other, where one person is killed or assaulted by acts directed at another, 2 A.L.R. 606.

Homicide by wanton or reckless use of firearm without express intent to inflict injury, 5 A.L.R. 603; 23 A.L.R. 1554.

Drunkenness as affecting existence of elements essential to murder in second degree, 8 A.L.R. 1052.

Homicide by unlawful act aimed at another, 18 A.L.R. 917.

Homicide as affected by humanitarian motives, 25 A.L.R. 1007.

Absence of evidence supporting charge of lesser degree of homicide as affecting duty of court to instruct as to, or right of jury to convict of, lesser degree, 102 A.L.R. 1019.

Corpus delicti in prosecution for killing of newborn child, 159 A.L.R. 523.

Test or criterion of term "culpable negligence," "criminal negligence," or "gross negligence," appearing in statute defining or governing manslaughter, 161 A.L.R. 10.

Homicide: causing one, by threats or fright, to leap or fall to his death, 25 A.L.R.2d 1186.

Who other than actor is liable for manslaughter, 95 A.L.R.2d 175.

Homicide based on killing of unborn child, 40 A.L.R.3d 444, 64 A.L.R.5th 671.

Homicide predicated on improper treatment of disease or injury, 45 A.L.R.3d 114.

Homicide by withholding food, clothing, or shelter, 61 A.L.R.3d 1207.

Spouse's confession of adultery as affecting degree of homicide involved in killing spouse or his or her paramour, 93 A.L.R.3d 925.

Judicial abrogation of felony-murder doctrine, 13 A.L.R.4th 1226.

Accused's right, in homicide case, to have jury instructed as to both unintentional shooting and self-defense, 15 A.L.R.4th 983.

Propriety of manslaughter conviction in prosecution for murder, absent proof of necessary elements of manslaughter, 19 A.L.R.4th 861.

Propriety of lesser-included-offense charge of voluntary manslaughter to jury in state murder prosecution - Twenty-first century cases, 3 A.L.R.6th 543.

Sufficiency of evidence to support homicide conviction where no body was produced, 65 A.L.R.6th 359.