Unlawful Killing

• A central element of voluntary manslaughter is that it involves an unlawful killing. This distinction is legally important because there are intentional killings that are entirely lawful. A soldier cannot be prosecuted for killing an enemy soldier on the field of battle, for example, and a state executioner cannot be prosecuted for killing a convict while carrying out that person's death sentence.
  
  

Intent to Kill

• Voluntary manslaughter is called "voluntary" for a reason. It requires that the killer have the intent to kill the victim. If the killer did not intend to kill the victim but is still criminally liable for the death (and the killing does not constitute murder), then he may be convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
  
  

Of Another Person

• Voluntary manslaughter by definition involves the killing of another human being. A person cannot be prosecuted for voluntary manslaughter for killing an animal. Nor can a person's estate be held criminally liable for that person's suicide.
  
  

Heat of Passion

• There are two types of voluntary manslaughter. One of them involves a killing during the "heat of passion." A person may be convicted for voluntary manslaughter when he has killed another person who did something to adequately provoke him. For example, if a man came home from work and found his wife in bed with another man, he may decide on the spot to kill that man. The crime was not premeditated, and the law may determine that the act was a lesser crime than murder. In such cases, the husband could be prosecuted for voluntary manslaughter.
  
  

Imperfect Self-Defense

• A person may also be convicted of voluntary manslaughter when she has committed an "imperfect self-defense." Ordinarily, a person cannot be convicted of murder if she uses deadly force to defend herself from a reasonable threat of death or serious physical harm. But if it is determined that no reasonable person would have felt such a threat under the circumstances, the self-defense is considered imperfect, and the killer can be prosecuted for voluntary manslaughter. For example, a store clerk shoots and kills an innocent patron because she thinks he was going to rob her, even though he had made no threatening moves.