Opinion ID: 2460607
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jury instructions on other offenses

Text: The defendant asserts that the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on any degree of homicide other than first degree felony murder deprived him of his state and federal constitutional rights to trial by jury, due process, and heightened reliability required in capital cases. The defendant asserts that under the proof in this case the jury should have been given an instruction on the offense of second degree murder. He also asserts that the jury could have concluded from the proof that Bernice Vann, rather than the defendant, actually had committed the murder, and that the defendant had merely furnished substantial assistance in the commission of the felony. Accordingly, he contends that the jury should have been given an instruction on the offense of facilitation of a felony. The State responds that the evidence in this case did not warrant an instruction on either offense. In this case, the indictment charged the defendant in count one with premeditated first degree murder, and in count two with first degree murder during the perpetration of rape. Before the case was submitted to the jury for decision, the State dismissed count one, premeditated murder, and proceeded on the theory of first degree felony murder. The trial court then instructed the jury solely on the offense of first degree felony murder. Reviewing the evidence in this record, we agree with the Court of Criminal Appeals that the trial court did not err in failing to give a jury instruction on second degree murder and facilitation of a felony. The evidence in this record establishes that the victim had been killed during the perpetration of a rape, or that the victim had died from an accidental choking on popcorn, or that the victim had committed suicide. The record in this case is devoid of evidence to support a jury charge on the offenses of second degree murder and facilitation of a felony. State v. Boyd, 797 S.W.2d 589, 593 (Tenn.1990); State v. King, 718 S.W.2d 241, 245 (Tenn.1986). Therefore, failure to instruct the jury on these offenses was not error.