Opinion ID: 2168279
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Jury Instructions on Manslaughter as a Lesser-Included Offense

Text: As mentioned above, Jackson was charged with capital murder. While the parties were preparing their jury instructions, Jackson asked the court to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offense of manslaughter. The court denied the request, finding that the facts did not support the instruction. Jackson then proffered the instruction to the court. On appeal, Jackson argues that the circuit court's rejection of his proffered jury instruction was error. This court has stated repeatedly that it is reversible error to refuse to instruct on a lesser-included offense when there is the slightest evidence to support the instruction. See Boyle v. State, 363 Ark. 356, 361, 214 S.W.3d 250, 252-53 (2005) (citing Flowers v. State, 362 Ark. 193, 208 S.W.3d 113 (2005)). However, we will affirm a trial court's decision not to give an instruction on a lesser-included offense if there is no rational basis for giving the instruction. Id. at 362, 214 S.W.3d at 253. Finally, we will not reverse a trial court's ruling regarding the submission of such an instruction absent an abuse of discretion. Id. (citing Grillot v. State, 353 Ark. 294, 107 S.W.3d 136 (2003)). The manslaughter instruction that Jackson wished to submit to the jury comes from Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-104(a)(1) (Repl.1997), which provides as follows: (a) A person commits manslaughter if: ... [t]he person causes the death of another person under circumstances that would be murder, except that he or she causes the death under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there is reasonable excuse.... The reasonableness of the excuse is determined from the viewpoint of a person in the actor's situation under the circumstances as the actor believed them to be[.] In order for a jury to be instructed on extreme-emotional-disturbance manslaughter, this court has repeatedly held that there must be evidence that the defendant killed the victim in the moment following some kind of provocation, such as physical fighting, a threat, or a brandished weapon. Boyle, 363 Ark. at 362, 214 S.W.3d at 253 (quoting Kail v. State, 341 Ark. 89, 94, 14 S.W.3d 878, 881 (2000)). This court has also stated that the passion that will reduce a homicide from murder to manslaughter may consist of anger or sudden resentment, or of fear or terror; but the passion springing from any of these causes will not alone reduce the grade of the homicide. There must also be a provocation which induced the passion, and which the law deems adequate to make the passion irresistible. An assault with violence upon another who acts under the influence thereof may be sufficient to arouse such passion. MacKool v. State, 363 Ark. 295, 298-99, 213 S.W.3d 618, 620-21 (2005) (quoting Rainey v. State, 310 Ark. 419, 837 S.W.2d 453 (1992)). Thus, to qualify for the manslaughter instruction, there must be evidence of a provocation resulting in an extreme emotional disturbance. Id. The element of emotional disturbance may be proven by evidence of an external event calculated to arouse or provoke a reasonable person to take the actions that resulted in the victim's death. Bankston v. State, 361 Ark. 123, 129, 205 S.W.3d 138, 143 (2005). Here, Jackson argues that there was evidence that he was provoked to shoot Cobb by witnessing the altercation between Cobb and his brother, an altercation that, by all accounts, Cobb was winning. He also notes that there was testimony that he and his brother were very close and that he looked out for Freeman. However, Jackson points to no evidence that Cobb's actions in fighting Freeman were calculated to provoke Jackson to take action. We also note that, after shooting Cobb in the thigh, there was a delay of a minute or two before Jackson fired the fatal shot to Cobb's head. Moreover, during this interval of time, Ward and Freeman exhorted Jackson not to shoot Cobb. In light of this evidence, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in finding that no rational basis existed for giving the jury Jackson's requested manslaughter instruction.