Opinion ID: 1127469
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Prohibition of Lesser Included Offense Instruction

Text: Roger argues that Arizona's felony murder statute unconstitutionally restricts a defendant's rights to due process and a fair jury trial because it has been construed to prohibit a lesser included instruction regarding second degree murder. The United States Supreme Court held otherwise in Schad v. Arizona, 501 U.S. 624, 645-48, 111 S.Ct. 2491, 2504-05, 115 L.Ed.2d 555 (1991). Felony murder, unlike premeditated murder, has no lesser included instructions. State v. West, 176 Ariz. 432, 443, 862 P.2d 192, 203 (1993), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 114 S.Ct. 1635, 128 L.Ed.2d 358 (1994).