California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Beltran, D073516 (Cal. App. 2019):
requirement is not satisfied by " 'any evidence . . . no matter how weak,' " but rather by evidence from which a jury composed of reasonable persons could conclude "that the lesser offense, but not the greater, was committed." . . . "On appeal, we review independently the question whether the trial court failed to instruct on a lesser included offense." ' " (People v. Souza (2012) 54 Cal.4th 90, 115-116, citations omitted.)
The theory of involuntary manslaughter that Beltran contends was warranted by the evidence here is described in People v. Brothers (2015) 236 Cal.App.4th 24 (Brothers). Under that theory, a defendant is guilty of involuntary manslaughter when he or she commits a killing, without malice, during an inherently dangerous assaultive felony. (Id. at pp. 33-35.)
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