Opinion ID: 1736888
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: the trial court erred in granting jury instruction s-2.

Text: ¶ 18. Instruction S-2 [1] is a lesser-included offense instruction offered by the State which instructed the jury in the elements of manslaughter in the event the jury found Smith not guilty of murder. We have held that a lesser-included offense instruction is warranted `if a `rational' or a `reasonable' jury could find the defendant not guilty of the principal offense charged in the indictment yet guilty of the lesser-included offense.' Pleasant v. State, 701 So.2d 799, 804 (Miss.1997)(internal citations omitted). ¶ 19. Based on the record before us, a rational jury might have believed that Smith was not guilty of murder but was guilty of manslaughter if, for example, it concluded that he killed Holmes in an act of passion triggered by an argument over a young woman, which was apparently what led to the shooting. In any case, since Smith was not convicted of the lesser included offense (as the defendant in Pleasant was) but of the greater offense, this issue is moot.