Proposed Jury
Instruction for Provocation
NOTICE TO COUNSEL AND JUDGES: As provided in the Court's Order accepting the proposed jury instructions for a period of working review, the Court's provisional approval "is for the purpose of refining and testing the application and accuracy of the pattern instructions and does not ensure error-free trials, and their use does not carry a no-reversal guarantee. It is not intended that this provisional acceptance is a final approval of the content of any instruction and each judge may use or refuse any instruction as he or she sees fit[,]" according to law. (emphasis added).
PROVOCATION
__________ INSTRUCTION NO. _____
The Court instructs the jury that reasonable provocation
means those certain acts committed against the defendant which would cause a
reasonable man to kill. Inherent in this concept is the further requirement
that the provocation be such that it would cause a reasonable person to lose
control of himself and act out of the heat of passion, and that he did in fact
do so.
COMMENT
PROVOCATION
1. State v. Hatfield, 169 W.Va. 191, 286 S.E.
2d 402 (1982) Footnote No. 3 Citing State v. Starkey, 161 W.Va. 517,
527, 244 S.E. 2d 219, 255 (1978); State v. Roush, 95 W.Va. 132, 144,
120 S.E. 304 (1923). The Roush case refers to "reasonable provocation.