What is the test for imperfect self-defense?

Imperfect self-defense and imperfect defense of others are not actually defenses, but are shorthand descriptions of a form of voluntary manslaughter, because they negate the element of malice. (People v. Barton (1995) 12 Cal.4th 186, 199-200.) Voluntary manslaughter is a lesser included offense of murder. (Id. at p. 199.) "[W]hen a defendant is charged with murder the trial court's duty to instruct sua sponte, or on its own initiative, on unreasonable self-defense is the same as its duty to instruct on any other lesser included offense: this duty arises whenever the evidence is such that a jury could reasonably conclude that the defendant killed the victim in the unreasonable but good faith belief in having to act in self-defense." (Id. at p. 201.)

"The concepts of perfect and imperfect self-defense are not entirely separate, but are intertwined. We have explained that 'the ordinary self-defense doctrineapplicable when a defendant reasonably believes that his safety is endangeredmay not be invoked by a defendant who, through his own wrongful conduct (e.g., the initiation of a physical attack or the commission of a felony), has created circumstances under which his adversary's attack or pursuit is legally justified. [Citations.] It follows, a fortiori, that the imperfect self-defense doctrine cannot be invoked in such circumstances.' [Citation.]" (People v. Valencia (2008) 43 Cal.4th 268, 288.)