Breaking: Jury Returns GUILTY Verdicts for All 4 Former Blackwater Guards Charged in Iraq Shootings

[OrwellwasRight]

28. No, not at all.

It relates to killings in which the prepetrator is criminally liable, but whose actions were not intended to take a life. Essentailly you lack either the premeditation element required for Murder One, and the "abandoned and malignant heart" element requried for Murder Two.

According to the California Penal Code:

192. Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without
malice. It is of three kinds:
(a) Voluntary--upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion.
(b) Involuntary--in the commission of an unlawful act, not
amounting to felony; or in the commission of a lawful act which might
produce death, in an unlawful manner, or without due caution and
circumspection. This subdivision shall not apply to acts committed in
the driving of a vehicle.
(c) Vehicular ...

So in essence, you knew or should have known that your acts could kill someone, but you didn't have the specific intention to kill. I kind of hate the "heat of passion" argument as I think people should be required by law to keep the temper under control--at least to the level of not killing someone. It is too easy for people like an angry husband or wife to plan to kill their spouse but then claim something stupid like "I don't know what happened. The gun just went off in my hands. I never meant to kill." Bullshit.