Opinion ID: 1057701
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: the trial court's failure to charge certain lesser-included offenses

Text: Mr. Banks argues that the trial court violated his constitutional rights by failing to charge certain lesser-included offenses. Mr. Banks requested some, but not all, of these charges at trial. The State asserts that these arguments have either been waived or are not meritorious. The Court of Criminal Appeals found no reversible error. We affirm that decision. A. Mr. Banks was indicted on four counts. He requested the trial court to charge the jury regarding forty-five lesser-included offenses of these offenses. In addition to charging the jury regarding the four offenses for which Mr. Banks was indicted, the trial court charged the jury with nineteen of the forty-five requested lesser-included offense instructions. The jury convicted Mr. Banks of the greatest charge for each count of the four-count indictment. On appeal, Mr. Banks insists that the trial court committed reversible error by failing to give instructions regarding twenty-six lesser-included offenses. Mr. Banks requested ten of these instructions at trial. He no longer takes issue on appeal with the trial court's failure to charge sixteen lesser-included offenses he requested at trial. However, for the first time on appeal, he insists that the trial court should have charged sixteen other lesser-included offenses that he had not requested at trial. Our review of the trial court's failure to charge the latter sixteen instructions is for plain error. Neither the State nor Mr. Banks have offered detailed legal arguments regarding whether each of the purported lesser-included offenses qualify as lesser-included offenses under the Burns test. Thus, we will assume for purposes of this opinion that the offenses enumerated by Mr. Banks meet the requirements to qualify as lesser-included offenses. Nevertheless, we find that the trial court did not commit reversible error by failing to charge the jury regarding the twenty-six lesser-included offenses referenced in Mr. Banks's brief. B. Whether a particular instruction regarding a lesser-included offense should have been given is a mixed question of law and fact. State v. Hatfield, 130 S.W.3d 40, 41 (Tenn.2004). We review mixed questions of law and fact de novo with no presumption of correctness. Carpenter v. State, 126 S.W.3d 879, 892 (Tenn. 2004). When called upon to address a purported failure to charge lesser-included offenses, the reviewing court considers the following three questions: (1) whether the offense is a lesser-included offense; (2) whether the evidence supports a lesser-included offense instruction; and (3) whether the failure to give the instruction is harmless error. State v. Allen, 69 S.W.3d 181, 187 (Tenn.2002). This Court fashioned the test for determining whether an offense is a lesser-included offense in State v. Burns, 6 S.W.3d 453 (Tenn.1999). An offense is a lesser-included offense if: (a) all of its statutory elements are included within the statutory elements of the offense charged; or (b) it fails to meet the definition in part (a) only in the respect that it contains a statutory element or elements establishing (1) a different mental state indicating a lesser kind of culpability; and/or (2) a less serious harm or risk of harm to the same person, property or public interest; or (c) it consists of (1) facilitation of the offense charged or of an offense that otherwise meets the definition of lesser-included offense in part (a) or (b); or (2) an attempt to commit the offense charged or an offense that otherwise meets the definition of lesser-included offense in part (a) or (b); or (3) solicitation to commit the offense charged or an offense that otherwise meets the definition of lesser-included offense in part (a) or (b). State v. Burns, 6 S.W.3d at 466-67. Where a lesser offense is not included in the offense charged, then an instruction should not be given, regardless of whether evidence supports it. State v. Burns, 6 S.W.3d at 467. Thus, if the purported lesser-included offense is not actually a lesser-included offense, then the court's inquiry ends. If, however, a lesser offense is included in the charged offense, the question remains whether the evidence justifies a jury instruction on such lesser offense. State v. Burns, 6 S.W.3d at 467. As for the standard for assessing whether the evidence is sufficient to require an instruction on a lesser-included offense, Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-18-110(a) (2006) provides that the trial judge shall not instruct the jury as to any lesser included offense unless the judge determines that the record contains any evidence which reasonable minds could accept as to the lesser included offense. In making this determination, the trial judge shall view the evidence liberally in the light most favorable to the existence of the lesser included offense without making any judgment on the credibility of evidence. The trial judge shall also determine whether the evidence, viewed in this light, is legally sufficient to support a conviction for the lesser included offense. As a general matter, evidence that is sufficient to warrant an instruction on the greater offense also will support an instruction on a lesser offense under Part (a) of the Burns test. State v. Allen, 69 S.W.3d at 188. In subsequent decisions, this Court has narrowed the application of Part (c) of the Burns test by clarifying that instructions are unnecessary where the evidence clearly establishes completion of the criminal act [21] or simply does not involve proof of solicitation or facilitation. State v. Wilson, 211 S.W.3d 714, 721 n. 2 (2007); State v. Robinson, 146 S.W.3d at 487 n. 7; see also State v. Marcum, 109 S.W.3d 300, 303-04 (Tenn.2003); State v. Ely, 48 S.W.3d 710, 719 (Tenn.2001). This result follows because for the lesser offenses under part (c), proof of the greater offense will not necessarily prove the lesser offense. State v. Allen, 69 S.W.3d at 188. The failure to give an instruction on an offense that is, in fact, a lesser-included offense and is supported by the evidence is a non-structural constitutional error. State v. Page, 184 S.W.3d 223, 230 (Tenn.2006). When such a failure occurs, a new trial must be granted unless the reviewing court determines that error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Thomas, 158 S.W.3d at 379; see also State v. Rodriguez, 254 S.W.3d 361, 371 (Tenn.2008). When undertaking a harmless error analysis in this context, the reviewing court should conduct a thorough examination of the record, including the evidence presented at trial, the defendant's theory of defense, and the verdict returned by the jury. State v. Allen, 69 S.W.3d at 191. There are two approaches for demonstrating that a failure to give an instruction on a lesser-included offense is harmless error. State v. Locke, 90 S.W.3d 663, 675 (Tenn.2002). The first approach is implicated where the trial court instructs the jury as to the charged offense as well as other lesser-included offenses thereof but does not instruct the jury regarding all of the lesser-included offenses supported by the evidence. When the jury convicts the defendant of the greater charged offense rather than the lesser-included offense or offenses, the jury necessarily rejects all of the other lesser offenses. State v. Locke, 90 S.W.3d at 672; State v. Allen, 69 S.W.3d at 191; State v. Williams, 977 S.W.2d 101, 106 (Tenn. 1998). Where one of the charged but rejected lesser-included offenses is an intermediate or buffer offense standing between the errantly omitted lesser-included offense and the offense for which the defendant was convicted, the charging error is shown to be harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Locke, 90 S.W.3d at 675; State v. Allen, 69 S.W.3d at 190. The second approach requires the reviewing court to consider the evidence and then to decide whether a reasonable jury would have convicted the defendant of the lesser-included offense instead of the charged offense. State v. Richmond, 90 S.W.3d 648, 662 (Tenn.2002) (emphasis in original). If no reasonable jury would have convicted the defendant of the uncharged lesser-included offense rather than the offense for which the defendant was convicted, then the failure to charge is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Locke, 90 S.W.3d at 675. For all trials conducted on or after January 1, 2002, [22] the defendant must file a written request for an instruction on a lesser-included offense as a prerequisite to taking issue on appeal with the failure to give an instruction on the offense. Failure to request in writing an instruction on a lesser-included offense results in a waiver of a right to take issue on appeal with the omission of the charge. Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-18-110(c). However, because defendants have a constitutional right to a correct and complete charge of the law applicable to their case, [23] a reviewing court may review the instructions to determine whether the trial court committed plain error by failing to instruct on a lesser-included offense, even if an instruction on the offense was not requested in writing. State v. Wilson, 211 S.W.3d at 720-21; State v. Page, 184 S.W.3d at 230-31. Under plain error review, relief will be granted only where five prerequisites are met: (1) the record clearly establishes what occurred in the trial court; (2) a clear and unequivocal rule of law was breached; (3) a substantial right of the accused was adversely affected; (4) the accused did not waive the issue for tactical reasons; and (5) consideration of the error is necessary to do substantial justice. State v. Gomez, 239 S.W.3d at 737. Furthermore, on a review for plain error, the defendant bears the burden of persuading the appellate court that the error was of sufficient magnitude that its commission probably changed the outcome of the trial. State v. Bledsoe, 226 S.W.3d at 354-55. To rise to the level of plain error, [a]n error would have to [be] especially egregious in nature, striking at the very heart of the fairness of the judicial proceeding. State v. Page, 184 S.W.3d at 231. C.