Opinion ID: 1353911
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Requirement of instruction

Text: The trial court was required to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense because both prerequisites were present: Appellant requested the instruction, and the evidence provided a basis for a verdict acquitting Appellant of the charged (greater) offense and yet convicting Appellant of the lesser offense. State v. Mayes, 63 S.W.3d 615, 636 (Mo. banc 2001); State v. Fowler, 938 S.W.2d 894, 898 (Mo. banc 1997). For there to be a basis for an acquittal of the greater offense, there must be a questionable essential element of the greater offense. If a reasonable juror could draw inferences from the evidence presented that an essential element of the greater offense has not been established, the trial court should instruct down. State v. Hineman, 14 S.W.3d 924, 927 (Mo. banc 1999). Doubts concerning whether to instruct on a lesser included offense should be resolved in favor of including the instruction, leaving it to the jury to decide. Id. Appellant presented a defense of entrapment that would only apply to the greater offense's element of distribution, but that could still allow a jury to find that Appellant possessed marijuana. A defendant must specifically request that the jury be instructed on a lesser included offense. State v. Black, 50 S.W.3d 778, 788 (Mo. banc 2001). Once Appellant requested that the trial court provide the jury with an instruction on the lesser included possession offense, the instruction was mandatory. The court shall instruct the jury in writing upon all questions of law arising in the case that are necessary for their information in giving the verdict. Rule 28.02(a). A trial court does not commit error by rejecting an instruction that either misstates the law or would have confused the jury. State v. Betts, 646 S.W.2d 94, 99 (Mo. banc 1983); State v. Parkhurst, 845 S.W.2d 31, 36-37 (Mo. banc 1992). Appellant was required to submit to the court proposed instructions and verdict forms. Rule 28.02(b). Appellant proposed an instruction, but it failed to describe the charged offense accurately. Therefore, it was not error for the trial court to have refused the specific instruction proposed by Appellant. Because both parties and the trial court failed to notice the flawed language of the proposed instruction, Appellant never submitted a correct instruction for the lesser included offense. Appellant's failure to submit a correct instruction under these circumstances renders his claims of error unpreserved. State v. Wurtzberger, 40 S.W.3d 893, 897 (Mo. banc 2001). He has therefore waived Rule 28.03 review of the point. [2] Id. However, [u]npreserved claims of plain error may still be reviewed under Rule 30.20 if manifest injustice would otherwise occur. [3] Id. at 898. The trial court was not confused by the mistaken reference to the wrong charged offense in Appellant's proposed instruction. The trial court rejected it out of hand and not due to the mistaken language. Appellant's mistaken reference to the wrong charged offense was the type of mistake that could have been easily corrected by Appellant had the state pointed it out below. Appellant was prejudiced by the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of possession. An instruction on the lesser included offense was mandatory. The trial court committed plain error by failing to provide one to the jury. Appellant could reasonably have been acquitted on the greater delivery offense, yet convicted of the lesser included possession offense. Therefore, the trial court's plain error resulted in manifest injustice. The judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded for a new trial. [4] WHITE, WOLFF and LAURA DENVIR STITH, JJ., concur. LIMBAUGH, C.J., dissents in separate opinion filed. BENTON and PRICE, JJ., concur in opinion of LIMBAUGH, C.J.