Commonwealth v. LeClair
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
445 Mass. 734 (2006)
Relevant factsFree
During a domestic dispute between LeClair (defendant) and his wife, her brother forcibly intervened and briefly pinned LeClair to the ground; once released, LeClair grabbed a knife and fatally stabbed his wife, and at trial argued that his brother-in-law's intervention provoked him enough to reduce the charge to voluntary manslaughter, but the judge refused the requested instruction and the jury convicted him of murder.
IssueFree
Whether evidence of provocation by a third party, rather than the victim of a homicide, is sufficient to warrant a jury instruction on voluntary manslaughter.