LogFAQs > #977095612

Nope, 1st degree is the only kind of murder that requires premeditation and intent to kill (premeditation can be as short as 1 minute such as someone taking the time to walk back to their car to grab a weapon so that they can kill someone). 2nd degree murder and voluntary manslaughter does not require premeditation nor does it require any intent to actually kill the victim. All they require is an intent to cause unlawful harm and the victim dying as a direct result.

The main differences between 2nd degree and voluntary manslaughter are whether the defendant was provoked into violent action by the victim and whether there was an opportunity for the defendant to calm himself after the provocation before killing the victim. If the provocation is considered inadequate by the courts (fighting words alone generally don't count as an adequate provocation; only infidelity discovered in the act, mutual combat, and extreme assault/battery by the victim have generally been universally upheld as mitigating factors against a murder charge) or if there was sufficient opportunity for the defendant to calm down between the provocation and the homicide, it automatically remains as a murder 2 charge.