Opinion ID: 1403222
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Battery as a Lesser Included Offense Instruction

Text: The Appellant also contends that the trial court erred in failing to provide a jury instruction on battery as a lesser-included offense to murder. [10] This Court has observed that battery is not to be considered as a lesser included offense to murder. State v. Watson, 99 W.Va. 34, 127 S.E. 637 (1925). In Watson, this Court stated as follows: [U]nder an indictment for murder, in the form prescribed by section 1, of chapter 144 of the Code, which indictment did not also aver facts constituting an assault or assault and battery, it was error in giving an instruction defining the offenses of which accused might be found guilty under the indictment, to tell the jury, if they did not find him guilty of the graver offenses covered by the indictment, they might find him guilty of assault and battery. 99 W.Va. at 36, 127 S.E. at 638. This Court also explained as follows in syllabus point two of State v. Neider, 170 W.Va. 662, 295 S.E.2d 902 (1982): Where there is no evidentiary dispute or insufficiency on the elements of the greater offense which are different from the elements of the lesser included offense, then the defendant is not entitled to a lesser included offense instruction. As stated above, the formulation of jury instructions is within the discretion of a trial court, and this Court will not disturb a trial court's findings absent an abuse of discretion. Tennant, 194 W.Va. at 102, 459 S.E.2d at 379, syl. pt. 6. The Appellant does not present any legitimate argument contesting the jury's finding that his actions contributed to the death of the victim or that there was insufficiency of evidence regarding the conviction for voluntary manslaughter. Nor does he present a legitimate argument requiring the inclusion of an instruction on battery as a lesser included offense. Accordingly, the trial court properly found that battery was not to be included when denying this offered instruction. We find no abuse of discretion on this issue.