2007 Minnesota Code
Chapters 609 - 624 Crimes, Criminals
Chapter 609 Criminal Code
Section 609.20 MANSLAUGHTER IN THE FIRST DEGREE.

609.20 MANSLAUGHTER IN THE FIRST DEGREE.
Whoever does any of the following is guilty of manslaughter in the first degree and may
be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 15 years or to payment of a fine of not more
than $30,000, or both:
(1) intentionally causes the death of another person in the heat of passion provoked by
such words or acts of another as would provoke a person of ordinary self-control under like
circumstances, provided that the crying of a child does not constitute provocation;
(2) violates section 609.224 and causes the death of another or causes the death of another in
committing or attempting to commit a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor offense with such
force and violence that death of or great bodily harm to any person was reasonably foreseeable,
and murder in the first or second degree was not committed thereby;
(3) intentionally causes the death of another person because the actor is coerced by threats
made by someone other than the actor's coconspirator and which cause the actor reasonably to
believe that the act performed by the actor is the only means of preventing imminent death to
the actor or another;
(4) proximately causes the death of another, without intent to cause death by, directly or
indirectly, unlawfully selling, giving away, bartering, delivering, exchanging, distributing, or
administering a controlled substance classified in schedule III, IV, or V; or
(5) causes the death of another in committing or attempting to commit a violation of section
609.377 (malicious punishment of a child), and murder in the first, second, or third degree is not
committed thereby.
As used in this section, a "person of ordinary self-control" does not include a person under
the influence of intoxicants or a controlled substance.
History: 1963 c 753 art 1 s 609.20; 1981 c 227 s 12; 1984 c 628 art 3 s 3; 1986 c 444; 1987
c 176 s 2; 1988 c 604 s 1; 1995 c 244 s 13; 1996 c 408 art 3 s 13