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Criminal Law Keyed to Gershowitz
Director of Public Prosecutions Appellant v. Camplin
Citation:
2 W.L.R. 679.Facts
The defendant, a 15-year-old, killed a middle aged man by splitting his skull with a heavy pan. At the time, the two of them were together alone. The defendant claimed that the victim buggered him in spite of his resistance and then laughed at him, causing the defendant to lose his self control and attack the man.
At trial, the defendant requested that the jury be instructed that for the defense of provocation, they should consider what a reasonable 15-year-old boy would do in the same circumstance. Instead, the judge instructed the jury they should consider what a reasonable adult man in the same circumstances would do. He was found guilty of murder. The Court of Appeals substituted a conviction for manslaughter. It held that the proper jury instructions are to invite the jury to consider whether the provocation was enough to have made a reasonable person of the same age as the defendant in the same circumstances do as he did. The state appealed.
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