People v. Elmore

Opinion

CORRIGAN, J.

A killing committed because of an unreasonable belief in the need for self-defense is voluntary manslaughter, not murder. “Unreasonable self-defense, also called imperfect self-defense, ‘obviates malice because *130that most culpable of mental states “cannot coexist” with an actual belief that the lethal act was necessary to avoid one’s own death or serious injury at the victim’s hand.’ (People v. Rios (2000) 23 Cal.4th 450, 461 [97 Cal.Rptr.2d 512, 2 P.3d 1066].)” (People v. Beltran (2013) 56 Cal.4th 935, 951 [157 Cal.Rptr.3d 503, 301 P.3d 1120].)

The question here is whether…