In 1994, Kenneth Peacock found his wife Sandra naked in bed with another man at approximately midnight. After chasing the man away, Kenneth Peacock drank for several hours and argued with his wife. Around 4 am, Kenneth killed Sandra with a hunting rifle. He pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. His sentencing was questioned by many, especially legal experts on domestic violence and gender equality, because Judge Cahill of the Baltimore County Circuit Court sentenced Peacock to only 18 months in prison. Judge Cahill noted that he wished he did not have to send him to prison at all and he wondered aloud how many men married for four years would be able to walk away from their wife in bed with another [man] without inflicting some corporal punishment (Lewin, 1994). States within US vary in how they define "heat of passion." In this case, Peacock did not kill his wife the instant he discovered her in bed with another man but several hours later. Furthermore, his first shot missed, and he had to reload the single-shot rifle before shooting her fatally with his second shot.

Until the 1970s in some states, a man who found his wife in bed with another and killed her was considered to have committed a justifiable homicide. The Peacock sentencing gained attention across the country, especially after another Baltimore judge sentenced a woman to three years in prison who pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for killing her husband who had abused her for 11 years (Corbin, 1995; Lewin, 1994).

Essay Questions

1. What do you think about the Peacock sentence?
2. In your opinion (based on class readings and PowerPoints), what mitigates or lessens murder to voluntary manslaughter?
3. Is killing in the heat of passion for adultery sufficient for a killing to be considered voluntary manslaughter?
4. Is the fact that a person was abused by the killer for years a sufficient provocation or motivation for a killing to be considered voluntary manslaughter instead of murder?
5. What if the man who finds his wife in bed with another waits two hours or two days to kill his wife? What if a woman being abused waits until her partner passes out from drinking before killing him?