Opinion ID: 2598891
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Did the district court commit plain error in declining to instruct the jury on the appellant's proposed lesser-included offense instruction?

Text: [¶ 20] Near the end of the second trial, the district court asked counsel if either of them objected to the proposed jury instructions. Both replied in the negative. Defense counsel then asked the court to instruct the jury that criminal entry is a lesser-included offense of stalking, based on the doggy door incident. [9] The State objected, relying on Blockburger. The district court agreed with the State, commenting that [i]t`s simply an offense that may have been committed in the course of this course of conduct. That`s separate and uncharged, so . . . . [¶ 21] The record contains no copy of a written instruction, and no indication that a written instruction was offered. Furthermore, defense counsel did not object when the district court declined to give the instruction. Thus, the issue has not been preserved for appeal except insofar as plain error can be shown. Landsiedel v. Buffalo Props., LLC, 2005 WY 61, ¶ 12, 112 P.3d 610, 614 (Wyo. 2005); Muniz v. State, 783 P.2d 141, 142 (Wyo. 1989); Sybert v. State, 724 P.2d 463, 466 (Wyo. 1986). [10] The test for plain error was set out earlier herein and will not be repeated. See supra ¶ 13. Suffice it to say that the district court did not violate any rule of law in declining to give a lesser-included offense instruction. The elements of the crime of criminal entry simply are not a subset of the elements of felony stalking. We continue to follow the statutory elements test of Blockburger, and so long as we do so, we need not dive into the rougher waters where conduct and evidence become issues in evaluating what is, and what is not, a lesser-included offense.