Opinion ID: 1791734
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Robbery and Theft as Lesser-Included Offenses of Carjacking

Text: The State argues that according to Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-18-110, [1] Wilson waived his right to challenge the trial court's failure to charge robbery and theft as lesser-included offenses of carjacking because he did not request a jury instruction on these offenses. We agree that because Wilson did not request an instruction on the offenses of robbery and theft in writing prior to the trial court's charge to the jury, he waived this issue on appeal. Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-18-110(c) (2003); see also State v. Page, 184 S.W.3d 223, 229-30 (Tenn.2006) (holding that the waiver of a lesser-included offense for purposes of plenary appellate review is constitutionally permissible). Wilson argues that despite the absence of an oral or written request for lesser-included offense instructions on theft or robbery, the failure to give such instructions in this case is plain error. We disagree that the trial court's failure to instruct the jury regarding the offenses of robbery and theft constitutes plain error. In Page , we held that [w]hile a defendant's failure to request a lesser-included offense instruction in writing waives the right to raise such omission as an issue on appeal, the right itself is not waived because the trial court may still charge the jury on any instructions supported by the evidence. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-18-100(b). The trial court would presumably still give lesser-included offense instructions, even when not requested, when those instructions are necessary for a fair trial. Irrespective of section 40-18-110, a defendant has a constitutional right to a correct and complete charge of the law to ensure that he receives a fair trial. State v. Teel, 793 S.W.2d 236, 249 (Tenn. 1990). 184 S.W.3d at 229. We then considered whether it was appropriate to consider the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on lesser-included offenses, even when not requested in writing, under a plain error analysis. Id. at 230-31. Rule 52(b) of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that plain error is an error which has affected the substantial rights of an accused, and when necessary to do substantial justice an appellate court may consider such an error at any time, even though not raised in the motion for a new trial or assigned as error on appeal. When determining whether such plain error review is appropriate, the following factors must be established: (a) the record must clearly establish what occurred in the trial court; (b) a clear and unequivocal rule of law must have been breached; (c) a substantial right of the accused must have been adversely affected; (d) the accused [must not have waived] the issue for tactical reasons; and (e) consideration of the error [must be] necessary to do substantial justice. State v. Terry, 118 S.W.3d 355, 360 (Tenn. 2003) (quoting State v. Adkisson, 899 S.W.2d 626, 641-42 (Tenn.Crim.App.1994)). In addition, [a]ll five factors must be established by the record before an appellate court may recognize the existence of plain error, and complete consideration of all the factors is not necessary when it is clear from the record that at least one of the factors cannot be established. Id. (citing State v. Smith, 24 S.W.3d 274, 283 (Tenn.2000)). We hold that the trial court's failure to give the instructions at issue is not plain error since, as we explain below, robbery and theft are not lesser-included offenses of carjacking and thus no clear and unequivocal rule of law was breached. To determine what is a lesser-included offense of any given offense, we use the formula we set forth in State v. Burns, 6 S.W.3d 453 (Tenn.1999). According to the applicable parts of the three-part Burns test, 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;. . . . 6 S.W.3d at 466-67. [2] Our criminal code defines carjacking as the intentional or knowing taking of a motor vehicle from the possession of another by use of: (1) A deadly weapon; or (2) Force or intimidation. Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-404(a) (1997). Robbery is the intentional or knowing theft of property from the person of another by violence or putting the person in fear. Id. § 39-13-401(a). A person commits theft of property if, with intent to deprive the owner of property, the person knowingly obtains or exercises control over the property without the owner's effective consent. Id. § 39-14-103. We have held that theft is a lesser-included offense of robbery under part (a) of the Burns test because all of its statutory elements are included within the statutory elements of robbery. See State v. Bowles, 52 S.W.3d 69, 79-80 (Tenn.2001). Theft requires an intent to deprive the owner of the property. Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-14-103 (1997). Deprive means to: (A) Withhold property from the owner permanently or for such a period of time as to substantially diminish the value or enjoyment of the property to the owner; (B) Withhold property or cause it to be withheld for the purpose of restoring it only upon payment of a reward or other compensation; or (C) Dispose of property or use it or transfer any interest in it under circumstances that make its restoration unlikely[.] Id. § 39-11-106(a)(8) (1997). Carjacking does not require an intent to deprive another of his or her motor vehicle. Instead, the statutory definition of carjacking merely requires the intentional or knowing taking of a motor vehicle from the possession of another by use of: (1) A deadly weapon; or (2) Force or intimidation. Id. § 39-13-404(a) (1997). In other words, carjacking only requires proof that the defendant took a motor vehicle from the possession of another. Nothing in the plain language of our carjacking statute requires proof that the defendant took the vehicle with an intent to deprive the owner of the property. Compare Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-404(a) with § 39-14-103. Under our statutory definition of carjacking, the motive for the taking is irrelevant, and therefore carjacking prosecutions do not include the burden of proving an intent to deprive the victim of the vehicle. Cf. People v. Davenport, 230 Mich.App. 577, 583 N.W.2d 919, 921 (1998) (concluding that Michigan's legislature intended to make it easier to obtain carjacking convictions by purposely omitting specific intent as an element of the offense of carjacking). Thus carjacking is not a taking within the meaning of theft, which requires that the taking be with an intent to deprive the owner of the property. See United States v. Moore, 73 F.3d 666, 669 (6th Cir.1996) (noting that the federal offense of carjacking does not require an intent to permanently deprive a victim of a motor vehicle as part of the taking element); Harris v. Maryland, 353 Md. 596, 728 A.2d 180, 187 (1999) (concluding that Maryland's carjacking statute, which does not include any language with regard to intent, requires only proof that the defendant possessed the general criminal intent to obtain unauthorized possession or control from a person in actual possession by force, intimidation, or threat of force). The definition of theft, therefore, contains a statutory element not included within the statutory elements of carjacking, and for that reason theft is not a lesser-included offense of carjacking under part (a) of the Burns test. Furthermore, theft's additional element of an intent to deprive the owner of the property does not reflect a different mental state indicating a lesser kind of culpability or establish a less serious harm or risk of harm to the same person, property or public interest as contemplated by part (b) of the Burns test. 6 S.W.3d at 467. The statutory element of an intent to deprive the owner of property does not reflect lesser culpability than taking a vehicle from the possession of another. Nor do we conclude that it represents a less serious risk of harm. Because robbery includes all of the elements of theft within its statutory elements, robbery is also not a lesser-included offense of carjacking. Accordingly, we hold that the trial court's failure to charge theft and robbery as lesser-included offenses of carjacking was not plain error.