D and his wife were both alcoholics. One day they both drank heavily.
D was at home chopping wood and drinking. D's wife came home and told him that she had just cheated on him. She then stated that the D didn't have the guts to do anything about it.
D took his axe and struck her 7 or 8 times, killing her.
Procedural History:
Trial court found D guilty of murder.
COA reversed, ordered new trial.
Trial court found D guilty of murder.
COA reversed, found D guilty of manslaughter.
Privy Council reversed, reinstated murder charge against D.
Issues:
Should individual characteristics be considered in determining if a D meets the reasonable person standard for provocation?
Holding/Rule:
Individual characteristics should not be considered in determining if a D meets the reasonable person standard for provocation.
Reasoning:
The statute envisages the defense of provocation as having two ingredients…
The subjective (factual) ingredient - that the defendant was provoked into losing his self-control. All evidence which is probative is admissible, including any mental or other abnormality making it more or less likely that the D lost his self-control.
The objective (evaluative) ingredient - whether the provocation was enough to make a reasonable man do as D did taking into account everything both done and said according to the effect it would have on a reasonable man.
The first element calls for an assessment of the gravity of the provocation.
The second element calls for application of the external standard of self-control.
The rational person standard requires juries to consider the powers of self-control possessed by ordinary people varying according to their age and gender.
Abnormalities are not relevant in evaluating the reasonable person standard.
The standard should be the same for all, not one that varies D to D.
If a D is taunted on account of some abnormality, that is allowed to be taken into account as to the gravity of the provocation. However, the abnormality cannot be considered in determining whether the D exercised ordinary self-control.
