Girouard v. State
Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1991.
Author: Jim

Facts: Defendant and the victim were married for about 3 months.  The victim told the defendant that she did not love him and that she would have him court-martialed from the military.  She kept throwing insults at him.  The defendant went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife and hid it behind a pillow.  The victim asked the defendant what he is going to do about this and the defendant leaped and stabbed her with the knife 19 times.

Procedure: The defendant was convicted for 2^nd degree murder.

Issue: Should the offense of the defendant be mitigated to voluntary manslaughter because he was provoked by his wife’s verbal insults?

Holding: No

Key Material:  Traditional circumstances where murder mitigated to manslaughter:

1. Extreme assault or battery upon the defendant.

2. Mutual combat.

3. Defendant’s illegal arrest.

4. Injury to serious abuse of a close relative or the defendant’s.

5. The sudden discovery of spouse’s adultery.

Rationale:  The defendant is asking the court to extend the traditional provocative scenarios to include mere words.  Words alone cannot be considered proper provocation to mitigate murder to manslaughter.  If this is allowed, then every domestic disturbance that results in murder will be mitigated down to voluntary manslaughter.  The test is whether a reasonable man will act how the defendant acted under the given circumstances and it is concluded that words alone will not provoke a reasonable man to murder another human being.  Conviction affirmed.