Louisiana § RS 14:31 - Manslaughter

§ RS 14:31. Manslaughter

            A. Manslaughter is:

            (1) A homicide which would be murder under either Article 30 (first degree murder) or Article 30.1 (second degree murder), but the offense is committed in sudden passion or heat of blood immediately caused by provocation sufficient to deprive an average person of his self-control and cool reflection. Provocation shall not reduce a homicide to manslaughter if the jury finds that the offender's blood had actually cooled, or that an average person's blood would have cooled, at the time the offense was committed; or

            (2) A homicide committed, without any intent to cause death or great bodily harm.

            (a) When the offender is engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of any felony not enumerated in Article 30 or 30.1, or of any intentional misdemeanor directly affecting the person; or

            (b) When the offender is resisting lawful arrest by means, or in a manner, not inherently dangerous, and the circumstances are such that the killing would not be murder under Article 30 or 30.1.

            (3) When the offender commits or attempts to commit any crime of violence as defined by R.S. 14:2(B), which is part of a continuous sequence of events resulting in the death of a human being where it was foreseeable that the offender's conduct during the commission of the crime could result in death or great bodily harm to a human being, even if the offender has no intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm. For purposes of this Paragraph, it shall be immaterial whether or not the person who performed the direct act resulting in the death was acting in concert with the offender.

            (4) When the offender unlawfully distributes or dispenses a controlled dangerous substance listed in Schedules I through V of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law, or any combination thereof, which significantly contributes to the death of the recipient who ingested or consumed the controlled dangerous substance.

            (5) When the offender unlawfully distributes or dispenses a controlled dangerous substance listed in Schedules I through V of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law, or any combination thereof, to another who subsequently distributes or dispenses such controlled dangerous substance which significantly contributes to the death of the person who ingested or consumed the controlled dangerous substance.

            B. Whoever commits manslaughter shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not more than forty years. However, if the victim killed was under the age of ten years, the offender shall be imprisoned at hard labor, without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence, for not less than ten years nor more than forty years.

            Amended by Acts 1973, No. 127, §1; Acts 1991, No. 864, §1; Acts 1992, No. 306, §1; Acts 1994, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 115, §1; Acts 2008, No. 10, §1; Acts 2020, No. 105, §1; Acts 2025, No. 169, §1, eff. June 8, 2025.