CALCRIM No. 570

Offense (Pen. Code, § 192(a))

A killing that would otherwise be murder is reduced to voluntary

manslaughter if the defendant killed someone because of a sudden

quarrel or in the heat of passion.

The defendant killed someone because of a sudden quarrel or in the heat

of passion if:

1. The defendant was provoked;

2. As a result of the provocation, the defendant acted rashly and

under the influence of intense emotion that obscured (his/her)

reasoning or judgment;

AND

3. The provocation would have caused a person of average

disposition to act rashly and without due deliberation, that is,

from passion rather than from judgment.

Heat of passion does not require anger, rage, or any specific emotion. It

can be any violent or intense emotion that causes a person to act without

due deliberation and reflection.

In order for heat of passion to reduce a murder to voluntary

manslaughter, the defendant must have acted under the direct and

immediate influence of provocation. While no specific type of provocation

is required, slight or remote provocation is not sufficient. Sufficient

provocation may occur over a short or long period of time.

It is not enough that the defendant simply was provoked. The defendant

is not allowed to set up (his/her) own standard of conduct. Y ou must

decide whether the defendant was provoked and whether the provocation

was sufficient. In deciding whether the provocation was sufficient,

consider whether a person of average disposition, in the same situation

and knowing the same facts, would have reacted from passion rather

than from judgment.

[If enough time passed between the provocation and the killing for a

person of average disposition to “cool off” and regain his or her clear

reasoning and judgment, then the killing is not reduced to voluntary

manslaughter on this basis.]

The People have the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that

the defendant did not kill as the result of a sudden quarrel or in the heat

of passion. If the People have not met this burden, you must find the

defendant not guilty of murder.

New January 2006; Revised December 2008, February 2014, August 2015,

September 2024