Opinion ID: 1862290
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Whether the trial court erred in refusing to grant instruction D-4 on the lesser-included offense of simple assault.

Text: Ross argues that the jury should have been allowed to consider a charge of simple assault as a lesser included offense. Simple assault is not a constituent offense of burglary of a dwelling. Armstead v. State, 503 So.2d 281, 286 (Miss. 1987). To constitute a lesser included or constituent offense, an offense must be necessarily included within the greater offense; it may not merely be an inferior but non-included offense. Hailey v. State, 537 So.2d 411, 414 (Miss. 1988) (en banc); Cannaday v. State, 455 So.2d 713, 724 (Miss. 1984), cert. denied, Cannaday v. Mississippi, 469 U.S. 1221, 105 S.Ct. 1209, 84 L.Ed.2d 351 (1985), and Mississippi v. Cannaday, 469 U.S. 1229, 105 S.Ct. 1229, 84 L.Ed.2d 366. The state chose to charge Ross with burglary; Ross does not have the right to opt for some other, lesser, non-included offense. Because simple assault does not constitute a lesser included offense under burglary, and because the evidence sufficiently supported a jury determination of the burglary charge, Sammy Joe Ross was not entitled to an instruction on simple assault. The burglary charge, as a matter of law, did not permit a simple assault instruction. This issue is devoid of merit.