Does a jury have a duty to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter and attempted voluntary manslaughter as lesser included offenses of murder and attempted murder?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Green, A151810 (Cal. App. 2019):

Defendant contends the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter and attempted voluntary manslaughter as lesser included offenses of murder and attempted murder. We review this question independently. (People v. Waidla (2000) 22 Cal.4th 690, 739.)

" 'In criminal cases, even absent a request, the trial court must instruct on general principles of law relevant to the issues raised by the evidence. [Citation.] This obligation includes giving instructions on lesser included offenses when the evidence raises a question whether all the elements of the charged offense were present, but not when there is no evidence the offense was less than that charged. [Citation.] The trial court must so instruct even when, as a matter of trial tactics, a defendant not only fails to request the instruction, but expressly objects to its being given.' " (People v. Moye (2009)

Page 9

47 Cal.4th 537, 548.) "[T]he existence of 'any evidence, no matter how weak' will not justify instructions on a lesser included offense, but such instructions are required whenever evidence that the defendant is guilty only of the lesser offense is 'substantial enough to merit consideration' by the jury." (People v. Breverman (1998) 19 Cal.4th 142, 162 (Breverman).)

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