Opinion ID: 2612195
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: error in instructing the jury on the lesser included offense

Text: At the close of the evidence, the trial judge instructed the jury that it could convict appellant of the lesser included offense of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon under § 6-4-506(b), W.S. 1977. The instruction, which was given over objection of appellant's counsel, read: INSTRUCTION NO. 8 If you are not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of the offense charged, he may, however, be found guilty of any lesser offense, the commission of which is necessarily included in the offense charged if the evidence is sufficient to establish his guilt of such lesser offense beyond a reasonable doubt. The offense of involuntary manslaughter with which the defendant is charged includes the lesser offense of aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous or deadly weapon; aggravated assault and battery; and assault and battery. The next instruction delineated the elements of § 6-4-506(b) as follows: INSTRUCTION NO. 9 Pertinent portions of the Wyoming Statutes provide as follows: `Whoever, while armed with a dangerous or deadly weapon, ... . . maliciously perpetrates an assault or an assault and battery upon any human being... ..' (shall be guilty of aggravated assault or aggravated assault and battery). The necessary elements of the crime of aggravated assault and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon are: 1. The crime occurred within the county of Fremont on or about the date of July 10, 1981; and 2. The defendant perpetrated; 3. An assault or assault and battery; 4. Upon another human being; 5. While armed with a dangerous or deadly weapon. If you find from your consideration of all of the evidence that any of these elements has not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, then you should find the defendant not guilty. If, on the other hand, you find from your consideration of all of the evidence that each of these elements has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, then you should find the defendant guilty. The appellant contends it was error to instruct the jury on the aggravated-assault-with-a-deadly-weapon offense because there was no evidence presented by the State to support the use of a deadly weapon. The State, on the other hand, seems to argue that the elements of § 6-4-506(b) are always necessarily includable in the crime of involuntary manslaughter perpetrated during the commission of an unlawful act as set out in § 6-4-107, supra n. 2. Given the state of the record, we must agree with appellant's contentions. We recently discussed the law with respect to the giving of lesser-included-offense instructions under Rule 8, Uniform Rules for the District Courts of the State of Wyoming, in State v. Selig, Wyo., 635 P.2d 786 (1981). There, we established standards for determining when a particular offense is necessarily included in the offense charged and we noted:    A trial court need not give a lesser-included offense instruction if the evidence clearly shows that the defendant is either guilty or not guilty of the offense charged, Jones v. State, Wyo., 580 P.2d 1150 (1978); Richmond v. State, Wyo., 554 P.2d 1217 (1976), reh. denied 558 P.2d 509 (1977); Oldham v. State, Wyo., 534 P.2d 107 (1975); Keeble v. United States, supra, 412 U.S. 205, 93 S.Ct. 1993, 36 L.Ed.2d 844 (1973). However, such instruction should be given if there is evidence which would allow the jury to rationally find the defendant guilty of the lesser offense. Oldham v. State, supra; Keeble v. United States, supra. `While it has been held that in order to warrant giving an instruction there must be some `appreciable' or `substantial' evidence supporting it, since, as appears in § 1138 supra, the weight and sufficiency of the evidence to establish a fact in issue are a question for the jury, it is generally recognized that any evidence which will authorize the jury to find on it, although in the opinion of the court it may be weak, inconclusive, or unworthy of belief, is sufficient to justify an instruction on the issue raised by such evidence, and even positive testimony is not required, for it is sufficient if the fact in issue reasonably may be inferred from circumstances proved. However, in order to warrant giving an instruction, the evidence should be sufficient fairly to raise the question involved therein.'    Goodman v. State, Wyo., 573 P.2d 400, 409 (1977), quoting form 23A C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1313. (Emphasis omitted.) 635 P.2d at 791. Thus, one of the conditions which must be satisfied is that the evidence must support the giving of the instruction. A comparison of the charged offense (manslaughter in the commission of an unlawful act) and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon points to one vivid difference between the two, especially when the State's theory is that the unlawful act causing death was the commission of an aggravated assault and battery under § 6-4-506(a). The difference is the presence of a deadly weapon. Section 6-4-506(a) does not require the presence of a deadly weapon nor does § 6-4-107 necessarily require the use of a deadly weapon. [10] Thus, contrary to the position assumed by the State, the elements of § 6-4-506(b) are not always embraced by the crime delineated in § 6-4-107. In other words, to convict a defendant of the crime of manslaughter under § 6-4-107 the State need not always prove the use of a deadly weapon. However, to be convicted of a violation of § 6-4-506(b) the State must prove the use or presence of a deadly weapon. Therefore, to warrant the giving of instructions 8 and 9, it was necessary that there be evidence that the defendant was armed with a deadly weapon. Our review of the record forces us to the conclusion that the instructions were erroneous. The only evidence with respect to a deadly weapon were the boots allegedly worn by appellant on the evening in question. However, as fully discussed before, these boots were never properly connected with the defendant, nor does any testimony appear of record which has to do with the use of the boots. In other words, the State failed to establish that the evidence warranted giving the lesser-included-offense instruction 9. This observation thus supports our conclusion that the admission of the boots was prejudicial, since that item was the only evidence before the jury which would have permitted them to convict appellant of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. [11] In the light of the conclusions reached above, we reverse appellant's conviction and remand this case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.