{
 "citation": "14:31",
 "heading": "Manslaughter",
 "doc_id": "78399",
 "source_url": "https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=78399",
 "classification": "F",
 "enacted_year": "1973",
 "last_amended_year": "2025",
 "penalties": [
  {
   "subsection": "B",
   "text": "Whoever commits manslaughter shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not more than forty years.",
   "los_min": "0",
   "los_max": "40Y",
   "hard_labor": "AT",
   "benefits": "",
   "death": false,
   "condition": ""
  },
  {
   "subsection": "B",
   "text": "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.",
   "los_min": "10Y",
   "los_max": "40Y",
   "hard_labor": "AT",
   "benefits": "W/O BENEFITS (probation or suspension of sentence)",
   "death": false,
   "condition": "if the victim killed was under the age of ten years"
  }
 ],
 "referenced_statutes": [
  "14:2"
 ],
 "text": "RS 14:31\n\n\u00a731. Manslaughter\n\nA. Manslaughter is:\n\n(1) A homicide which would be murder under either Article 30 (first degree murder)\nor Article 30.1 (second degree murder), but the offense is committed in sudden passion or\nheat of blood immediately caused by provocation sufficient to deprive an average person of\nhis self-control and cool reflection. Provocation shall not reduce a homicide to manslaughter\nif the jury finds that the offender's blood had actually cooled, or that an average person's\nblood would have cooled, at the time the offense was committed; or\n\n(2) A homicide committed, without any intent to cause death or great bodily harm.\n\n(a) When the offender is engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of any\nfelony not enumerated in Article 30 or 30.1, or of any intentional misdemeanor directly\naffecting the person; or\n\n(b) When the offender is resisting lawful arrest by means, or in a manner, not\ninherently dangerous, and the circumstances are such that the killing would not be murder\nunder Article 30 or 30.1.\n\n(3) When the offender commits or attempts to commit any crime of violence as\ndefined by R.S. 14:2(B), which is part of a continuous sequence of events resulting in the\ndeath of a human being where it was foreseeable that the offender's conduct during the\ncommission of the crime could result in death or great bodily harm to a human being, even\nif the offender has no intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm. For purposes of this\nParagraph, it shall be immaterial whether or not the person who performed the direct act\nresulting in the death was acting in concert with the offender.\n\n(4) When the offender unlawfully distributes or dispenses a controlled dangerous\nsubstance listed in Schedules I through V of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances\nLaw, or any combination thereof, which significantly contributes to the death of the recipient\nwho ingested or consumed the controlled dangerous substance.\n\n(5) When the offender unlawfully distributes or dispenses a controlled dangerous\nsubstance listed in Schedules I through V of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances\nLaw, or any combination thereof, to another who subsequently distributes or dispenses such\ncontrolled dangerous substance which significantly contributes to the death of the person\nwho ingested or consumed the controlled dangerous substance.\n\nB. Whoever commits manslaughter shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not more\nthan forty years. However, if the victim killed was under the age of ten years, the offender\nshall be imprisoned at hard labor, without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence, for\nnot less than ten years nor more than forty years.\n\nAmended by Acts 1973, No. 127, \u00a71; Acts 1991, No. 864, \u00a71; Acts 1992, No. 306,\n\u00a71; Acts 1994, 3rd Ex. Sess., No. 115, \u00a71; Acts 2008, No. 10, \u00a71; Acts 2020, No. 105, \u00a71;\nActs 2025, No. 169, \u00a71, eff. June 8, 2025."
}