Opinion ID: 2627503
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: additional lesser included offense instructions

Text: The district court instructed the jury on premeditated first-degree murder and the lesser included offense of intentional murder in the second degree. On appeal, Jones now contends that the jury should also have been instructed on unintentional second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter as lesser included crimes of first-degree murder. See State v. Engelhardt, 280 Kan. 113, 135, 119 P.3d 1148 (2005) (voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter, like second-degree murder, are lesser included offenses of first-degree murder). Because Jones did not request the additional lesser included offense instructions, we apply a clearly erroneous standard of review. See State v. Cooperwood, 282 Kan. 572, 581, 147 P.3d 125 (2006). `Instructions are clearly erroneous only if the reviewing court is firmly convinced that there is a real possibility the jury would have rendered a different verdict if the trial error had not occurred. [Citation omitted.]' State v. Saenz, 271 Kan. 339, 346, 22 P.3d 151 (2001). State v. Trotter, 280 Kan. 800, 805, 127 P.3d 972 (2006). If the evidence would not have permitted a rational factfinder to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the lesser included offenses, instructions on those additional offenses need not be given. State v. Engelhardt, 280 Kan. 113, 134, 119 P.3d 1148 (2005); State v. Deavers, 252 Kan. 149, 151, 843 P.2d 695 (1992), cert. denied 508 U.S. 978, 113 S.Ct. 2979, 125 L.Ed.2d 676 (1993). Unintentional second-degree or depraved heart murder is a killing committed unintentionally but recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life. K.S.A. 21-3402(b). Involuntary manslaughter is a killing committed unintentionally but recklessly. K.S.A. 21-3404(a). In State v. Robinson, 261 Kan. 865, 876-78, 934 P.2d 38 (1997), we discussed the requirements for unintentional second-degree murder. Both depraved heart murder and reckless involuntary manslaughter require recklessnessthat the killing be done under circumstances showing a realization of the imminence of danger and a conscious disregard of that danger. Depraved heart murder requires the additional element that the reckless killing occur under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life. .... We hold that depraved heart second-degree murder requires a conscious disregard of the risk, sufficient under the circumstances, to manifest extreme indifference to the value of human life. Recklessness that can be assimilated to purpose or knowledge is treated as depraved heart second-degree murder, and less extreme recklessness is punished as manslaughter. Conviction of depraved heart second-degree murder requires proof that the defendant acted recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life. This language describes a kind of culpability that differs in degree but not in kind from the ordinary recklessness required for manslaughter. Voluntary manslaughter is a killing committed intentionally upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion. K.S.A. 21-3403(a). A killing must have resulted from severe provocation in order to constitute voluntary manslaughter. State v. Drennan, 278 Kan. 704, 713, 101 P.3d 1218 (2004). The test for whether severe provocation exists is objective, and the provocation must be sufficient to cause an ordinary person to lose control of his or her actions or reason. State v. Bell, 266 Kan. 896, 918, 975 P.2d 239, cert. denied 528 U.S. 905, 120 S.Ct. 247, 145 L.Ed.2d 207 (1999). Inexplicably, Jones argues that instructions on all three crimes would have been consistent with his theory of defense. However, as the State notes, Jones' theory of defense was that Terrae Johnson was the shooter, not Jones. None of the lesser offenses comports with the defense theory. Moreover, there was absolutely no evidence that the shooting was the product of recklessness or that the attack was a reaction to a contemporaneous provocation. Accordingly, a rational jury could not have found sufficient evidence to convict Jones of the lesser included offenses which he proffers on appeal, and it was certainly not clearly erroneous to refrain from instructing on those crimes. Affirmed.