volunt manslaughter

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special and partial defences to murder voluntary manslaughter: diminished responsibility and loss of control

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31 Terms

1
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what are the partial defences?

defence to murder that might reduce it to manslaughter

2
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what is the special/partial ?

special- only apply to murders,the jury is not bound to accept this evidence.

partial- D is not completely acquitted and sentence is reduced to vol manslaughter; DR , L of C

3
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when was DR introduced and amended?

by the Homicide Act 1957;

amended by S52 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009

4
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what does the defence say(DR)? which type of defence is it?

(DEF.) partial defence

A person or is party to a killing of another is not to be convicted of murder if he was suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning which

  • arise from a recognised medical condition

  • substantially impair the accused’s ability to understand their conduct, form a rational judgement or exercise self-control

  • provide an explanation for the accused’s actions or omissions.

5
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who does burden of proof rest with?

the D has to prove it but only on the balance of the probabilities

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what does the abnormality of mental functioning mean? + case

cover minds activities in all its aspects, inc the ability to exercise will power to control physical acts; different state of mind, that reasonable person would term it abnormal e.g. R V Byrne

7
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what must ab of men funct be caused by?

from a “recognised medical condition “

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when can physical causes qualify?

when they affect mental functioning e.g. epilepsy, sleep disorders

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whet must D present to support a defence of DR?

med evidence of abnormality that the D is suffering from must be present at the trial

10
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definition of substantially impaired + case

means an impairment which was of some importance or was a serious degree of impairment, more than trivial e.g. R V Gold

11
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what must be substaintially impaired? (3)

  1. ability to understand the nature of their conduct ( D suffers from delusions, believes, severe learning difficulties)

  2. ability to form a rational judgement ( unable judge their acts/ omissions)

  3. ability to exercise self control e.g. RV Byrne

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what means providing an explanation for Ds conduct?

D has to connect his ab of men funct with the killing

13
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flowchart of DR

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14
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when D is intoxicated at the time of the killing - 3 types:

  1. D was intoxicated at the time of the killing and tries to use the defence

  2. D was intoxicated and has a pre existing ab of men funct e.g. Dietschmann

  3. the intoxication is due to an addiction

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1.can the intoxication be qualified as a defence? + case

cannot be used as the basis of a defence of DR on its own , requires ab of men funct e.g.Dowds

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2.D was intoxicated and has a pre existing ab of men funct + case

Dietschmann - it was unlikely that without drinks he would kill which means that ab of men funct on its own was insufficient to impair his responsibility

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3.intoxication was due to an addiction

Wood, Stewart in both the murder was reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of DR; ADS can be ab of men funct

18
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what type of defence is loss of control? where is it set out?

a partial defence to a charge of murder, D will be guilty of voluntary manslaughter; set out in section 54(1) of the coroners and Justice act 2009; DOES NOT HAVE TO BE SUDDEN

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what are the elements of loss of control?

  • D must have lost self control

  • there must be a qualifying trigger

  • person of the same age/sex would commit the same

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loss of self control(3)…. + 2 cases

It is up to juries to decide; However it might be proved if:

  1. D lost their ability to maintain their action in accordance with considered judgement

  2. D lost their normal powers of reasoning

  3. Ds behaviour was atypical, normally they would not behave in this way

    Jewell- temper, anger reaction are NOT sufficient , D did not have sufficient evidence

    Ahluwalia - was able to claim the defence l of c bc from “combination of fear, anger, frustartion and a sense of desperation”

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where are the requirements for the qualifying trigger set?

section 55(1)

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Diagram for the qualifying trigger

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23
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what type of test is established for fear of serious violence? case + section

section 55(3) D will need to show they lost self control bc of a genuine fear of violence whther or not the fear was reasonable

Dawes

24
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what are the 2 requirements for things done/said?

  • they were of an extremely grave character

  • caused D to have a justifiable sense of being seriously wronged

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what type of test is used to determine whether D can claim that his sense of being was seriously wronged is justified?

an objective questions to the jury to decide ( assuming that there is sufficient evidence of the defence to be considered)

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how does objective q for a jury to determine whether D can claim that his sense of being seriously wronged is justified affect the availability of l of c?

to narrow the potential availability of this defence

27
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cases for things said or done( provocation/L of C) + Section

section 55(4)

Doughty- able to use provocation as its up to the jury to decide, might not be able to use l of c bc no reasonable person would commit it

Zebedee- cannot use L of C bc neither of the elements for qual trigger were present

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excluded matters + the cases

  1. Sexuality infidelity cannot be used on its own as a qual trigger for loss of control, there have to be another trigger as things done/said as in case Clinton - trigger was that V taunts D

  2. Revenge - Ibrams and gregory - D had time to plan the revenge even though the loss of control does not have to be sudden, Ds made a plan, DEPENDS ON how much time has passed

Ballie - there was a sudden lost of control the provocation is available , however were present the elements of a desire for revenge

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Standard of self control: what level of control is D expected to show?what would be included and not/

Included: objective test for the jury to consider, such as a person of Ds age and sex would act i the same way

Cannot be included: personality disorder

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Reaction in the same or similar way + case

the jury should decide whether same person would become angry and lose self control and kill or would become angry and lose control BUT not to that level that D went - Van Dongen (cannot use defence bc same person would not go to that level as D did)

31
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flowchart of loss of control

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