Is involuntary manslaughter a lesser included crime of felony murder?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Vasquez, B260478 (Cal. App. 2015):

1. Both defendant and respondent have assumed, without analysis, that involuntary manslaughter is a lesser included offense of felony murder. We note that there is some debate about whether a trial court has a duty to instruct on other theories of homicide as lesser included offenses of felony murder. (See People v. Anderson (2006) 141 Cal.App.4th 430, 442-446.) Here, even though the People proceeded at trial on a theory of felony murder, the accusatory pleading alleged first degree malice murder, and therefore, under the accusatory pleading test for determining whether a crime is a lesser included offense, the trial court was required to instruct on involuntary manslaughter if such a theory was supported by substantial evidence. (Id. at pp. 445-446.)

2. The jury was not asked to specify which felony its verdict was based on.

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