California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Rodriguez, C072461 (Cal. App. 2014):
A trial court has a duty, even in the absence of a request, to instruct on general principles of law relevant to the issues raised by the evidence and necessary to the jury's understanding of the case. Included in this duty is an obligation to instruct on lesser included offenses when the evidence raises a question as to whether the greater, charged crime has been proven and there is substantial evidence that only a lesser included crime was committed. (People v. Breverman (1998) 19 Cal.4th 142, 154.) However, the existence of any evidence, " 'no matter how weak,' " will not justify instructions on a lesser included offense. Instead, such instructions are required only if the evidence that defendant is guilty only of the lesser offense is " 'substantial enough to merit consideration' " by the jury. (Id. at p. 162.) If the trial court fails to instruct on a lesser
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