California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Romero, E054543, Super.Ct.No. FVI024187 (Cal. App. 2013):
For the sake of judicial efficiency we will accept as true defendant's premise that the trial court should have instructed the jury on the lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter. (See People v. Breverman (1998) 19 Cal.4th 142, 154 [trial court has sua sponte duty to instruct "on lesser included offenses when the evidence raises a question as to whether all of the elements of the charged offense were present."].) Accepting this premise as true, we move to a discussion of prejudice.
The failure to instruct a jury on a lesser included offense is not reversible error "unless an examination of the entire record establishes a reasonable probability that the error affected the outcome. [Citations.]" (People v. Breverman, supra, 19 Cal.4th at p. 165.) The jury was instructed on first degree murder and second degree murder. The
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