Typology Central - View Single Post - Does passion grant unaccountability? (a brief ethical theory)

Giggly · 10-05-2008, 10:44 PM

So apparently, there is a legal defense that can be used in cases of murder called "Passion Provocation". There is another name for it too but I forgot what it is. It's basically where the murderer gets so pissed off at their lover (<this is the passion part) that they are considered to be in altered state of mind and therefore are not accountable for their actions at that moment. I believe there have been a few cases of this where the defendant was found not guilty because of this.

The one case I remember was of a guy who was with a woman for a while. They weren't married but had a kid together. Then they broke up and she got together with a different man very quickly and got engaged to this new man but the Ex-lover did not find out about this new romance she had until a day or two before her wedding and by surprise. On her wedding day, when she and the bridesmaids were getting dressed, the Ex-lover busted into the house in a fit of jealousy and shot her dead in her wedding dress and I think shot a kid too. i know the bride died for sure. But he and his lawyers used the passion provocation defense.

So do you think it's a legitimate defense?

10-05-2008, 10:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
Giggly Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Type: ISFj Location: California Posts: 2,719	Does passion grant unaccountability? (a brief ethical theory) So apparently, there is a legal defense that can be used in cases of murder called "Passion Provocation". There is another name for it too but I forgot what it is. It's basically where the murderer gets so pissed off at their lover (<this is the passion part) that they are considered to be in altered state of mind and therefore are not accountable for their actions at that moment. I believe there have been a few cases of this where the defendant was found not guilty because of this. The one case I remember was of a guy who was with a woman for a while. They weren't married but had a kid together. Then they broke up and she got together with a different man very quickly and got engaged to this new man but the Ex-lover did not find out about this new romance she had until a day or two before her wedding and by surprise. On her wedding day, when she and the bridesmaids were getting dressed, the Ex-lover busted into the house in a fit of jealousy and shot her dead in her wedding dress and I think shot a kid too. i know the bride died for sure. But he and his lawyers used the passion provocation defense. So do you think it's a legitimate defense?