State v Grugin
S. Ct. Missouri, 1898
Author:- Sam Biers

Facts: The father of the a young lady, beginning her “womanhood,” is informed that she has been ravished by his son-in-law who lives under his roof.  Upon approaching the son-in-law and inquiring, the son-in-law utters “I’ll do as I damn please about it.” The Defendant thereupon killed the son-in-law.

Issue: Whether words constitute sufficient or reasonable provocation for reduction of criminal offense?

Holding: Yes, if it “so excite the passions of the mass of men as to enthrall their reason,. . . ”

Procedure:   Jury found defendant guilty of second degree murder sentence 15 years. Reversed and remanded.

Rule: Words do amount to a provocation in law, if, words cause “sudden heat,” from the indignity the insult offers, and from nothing else. 

Court Rationale: The words as spoken to the father after his inquiry about whether the act claimed was performed amounted to an admission.  That admission coupled with “audacious and atrocious avowals will be met as met by defendant. The words in question should have been left to the jury to say whether, in the circumstances detailed in evidence, they constituted a reasonable provocation, and if so found, that then defendant was guilty of no higher offense than manslaughter in the fourth degree. . .”

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