This assignment seeks to critically survey a case study and understand the implications of law in each and every form of homicide, how it is legally understood and ruled out. According to the given case study, Bob, whose father had been hospitalized suffering from terminal illness visited him in hospital with a pistol. Upon his father’s request, Bob shot him in the head with a single shot and his father passed away. From this case study, a number of things are clear. For example, Bob killed his father upon his father’s request, whose reason has not been disclosed or explained in the case study.
In a case where the murder was conducted with full knowledge and acceptance of the death victim (deceased), this is legally implied and interpreted as voluntary manslaughter. The exact definition of voluntary manslaughter is different from one state to another, and the penal codes implied are also different from one state to another. However, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, voluntary manslaughter can be defined as the killing of a person whereby the offender did not have the planned intention to kill the deceased, but did it under his instruction or as a result of a “heat of the moment condition”.
Involuntary manslaughter is not considered to be as serious a case as murder, and according to the crime’s definition, Bob stands to be charged with involuntary manslaughter. In the United States for example, according to California’s Voluntary Manslaughter Penal Code 192(a), the legal defense allowed for Voluntary Manslaughter include in case of self-defense, insanity, in case of an accident or under a plea bargain murder being the case. Upon being charged guilty for voluntary manslaughter, the defendant stands to jail sentence ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment, or a fine not exceeding $10,000 (Hephaestus Books, 2011, p. 57).
References
Hephaestus Books. (2011). Manslaughter, including: Vehicular Homicide, Dieter Althaus, Corporate Manslaughter (england And Wales), Voluntary Manslaughter, Manslaughter In People V. Berry, Eastbourne Manslaughter. New York: Hephaestus Books.
