1. Criminal Law Categories of Manslaughter:
Voluntary manslaughter
Involuntary manslaughter
Manslaughter does not contain the element of MALICE.
Manslaughter does require the proof of the Corpus Delicti for homicide.

2. Criminal Law- Manslaughter
Voluntary manslaughter - an intentional killing of one human being by another, done in a sudden heat of passion, rage, or outrageous emotion- that has been committed after a reasonable [adequate] provocation and with an absence of malice aforethought.
The killing must occur immediately following the provocation and cannot be considered as vol. manslaughter if the defendant “cooled down” before killing.

3. Criminal Law- Manslaughter
As a practical matter, the defendant in voluntary manslaughter does have a desire or a design to take life that is recognized as malice.
Because of the rage or passion of the defendant, legally it is not considered malice because the mental stress that creates the desire to kill “clouds” or obscures the judgment of the defendant, who is acting out of passion and not out of intellectual determination.
A defendant in this crime does have an intention to take human life, but that intention was motivated by rage or passion and not motivated by clear mental reflection.

4. Criminal Law- Manslaughter
General Rule: Words alone spoken by a victim will not generally considered sufficient to reduce what might appear to be murder to the crime of voluntary manslaughter.
Exceptions do exist where the verbal affront or insult was so extreme that an average person might be enraged and act without calm reflection and take life.

5. Criminal Law- Manslaughter
Cooling down or returning to clear rationality: If a defendant has been adequately provoked and the provocation would have created rage in the average human, but this particular defendant has “calmed down” or “cooled off” and then takes life, the crime is probably murder and maybe 1st degree murder because of the ability to form malice.

6. Criminal Law- Voluntary Manslaughter
The provocation sufficient to reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter requires not only that the defendant subjectively experience a heat of passion resulting from the adequate provocation, but also have an objectively reasonable response: that is, an unlawful killing is voluntary manslaughter if the killer's reason was actually obscured as the result of a strong passion aroused by a "provocation" sufficient to cause an "'ordinary [person] of average disposition to act rashly or without due deliberation and reflection. People v. Padilla, 103 Cal. App. 4th 675 (2016).

7. Criminal Law- Involuntary Manslaughter
Involuntary manslaughter is an unintentional killing done without excuse or justification and without malice aforethought.
Involuntary manslaughter usually refers to an unintentional killing that results from recklessness or criminal negligence, or from an unlawful act that is a misdemeanor or low-level felony.

8. Criminal Law- Involuntary Manslaughter
In the crime of involuntary manslaughter, there is no design or desire to take the life of another, but there may be an intention to do an act in an outrageously negligent manner where the danger to human life should be obvious to anyone.
For proof of criminal negligence: we often weigh the social desirability or the social utility of the act against the risk of harm to humans if the harm occurs.

9. Criminal Law- Involuntary Manslaughter
Criminal negligence might be exhibited by operating an emergency ambulance without using its lights or siren or having a driver who was completely untrained in emergency ambulance driving. There is great social utility in seeking medical care for injured persons, but the risk of harm in using an unlighted vehicle without audible warnings is too high of a risk, even given the social utility of getting medical attention for an injured person.

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