Can provocation reduce a murder to second degree murder?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Saner, A159086 (Cal. App. 2021):
Provocation may reduce first degree murder to second degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. "To reduce a murder to second degree murder, premeditation and deliberation may be negated by heat of passion arising from provocation. [Citation.] If the provocation would not cause an average person to experience deadly passion but it precludes the defendant from subjectively deliberating or premeditating, the crime is second degree murder." (People v. Hernandez (2010) 183 Cal.App.4th 1327, 1332, italics added.) If, in addition to provoking the defendant subjectively, "the provocation would cause a reasonable person to react with deadly passion,
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