Opinion ID: 3172998
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jury Instruction—Reckless Manslaughter

Text: At trial, the circuit court instructed the jury on first-degree murder and the lesserincluded offense of second-degree murder and refused appellant’s request to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offense of reckless manslaughter. We have often stated that refusal to give an instruction on a lesser-included offense is reversible error if the instruction is supported by even the slightest evidence. E.g., Ellis v. State, 345 Ark. 415, 418, 47 S.W.3d 259, 260 (2001). However, we will affirm a trial court’s decision to exclude an instruction on a lesser-included offense if there is no rational basis for giving the instruction. Id. at 418, 47 S.W.3d at 260. Counsel contends that the circuit court did not err in refusing to instruct the jury on 6 Cite as 2016 Ark. 20 reckless manslaughter pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 5-10-104(a)(3) (Repl. 2013), which states that a person commits manslaughter if the person recklessly causes the death of another person. A person acts recklessly with respect to the attendant circumstances or a result of his her conduct when the person consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the attendant circumstances exist or the result will occur. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-2-202(3)(A) (Repl. 2013). The risk must be of a nature and degree that disregard of the risk constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the actor’s situation. Id. § 5-2-202(3)(B). In support of his request for the manslaughter instruction, appellant argued at trial that testimony demonstrated that he chased P.J. to “scare him” and that his intent was to “beat up” P.J., not to kill him. The State argued that, although there was testimony that some of the “girls in the car may have wanted [P.J.’s] ass whipped,” there was no testimony whatsoever that appellant intended only to engage in a fistfight with P.J. In this case, the jury was presented with evidence that appellant chased P.J., blocked P.J.’s vehicle with his vehicle, and ran up to P.J.’s car, shooting once into the hood of the car and a second time through the windshield of the car, killing P.J. We agree with counsel’s contention that the circuit court did not err in refusing to instruct the jury on reckless manslaughter. Because there was no rational basis for giving an instruction for reckless manslaughter, we affirm the circuit court’s ruling.2 2 Counsel asserts that, because the circuit court instructed the jury on first-degree murder and second-degree murder, and appellant was convicted of first-degree murder, then any error committed by the circuit court in declining to instruct the jury on the lesser- 7 Cite as 2016 Ark. 20