People v. Asbury
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of murdering her former boyfriend. The court agreed with defendant that the trial court erred by refusing her request for a jury instruction on a heat of passion theory of voluntary manslaughter. In this case, there was sufficient evidence of both objective provocation and defendant's subjective emotion to warrant a heat of passion instruction. Defendant stated that the boyfriend had treated her badly for years, belittling her cancer diagnosis and demanding oral sex from her when the breast cancer had debilitated her. The bad blood between the couple increased shortly before the shooting. Accordingly, the court reversed the judgment. On remand, the prosecution shall have the option to retry defendant for second degree murder, or to accept a modification of the judgment to reflect a conviction for voluntary manslaughter.
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