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Girouard v. State
Court of Appeals of Maryland (1991)
Plaintiff: State
Defendant: Steven Girouard; the defendant got into an argument with his wife and the wife said some hash words about the sexuality of the defendant and she told him that she wanted to get a divorce. The defendant stabbed the wife 19 times and then tried to kill himself. Now the defendant asks the court to reduce his murder sentence to manslaughter under the provocation rule.
Issue: Can words be considered provocation which can reduce murder sentence to manslaughter?
Holding: No
Legal Reasoning: The court held that words can not be used as adequate provocation under the law. The court stated that provocation events include: "extreme assult or battery upon the defendant; mutual combat; defendant's illegal arrest; injury or serious abuse of a close relative of the defendant's; or the sudden discovery of a spouse's adultery." Including harsh words, the court held, in this list would be too costly for the society and the court was not ready to accept this. The court stated that a reasonable person will not be evoked to kill someone just because that somone said some harsh words to the person. So the defendant was charged with murder.