Opinion ID: 1734443
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Whether the defendant was entitled to the jury instruction of the lesser included offense of manslaughter.

Text: ¶ 17. Where under the evidence a reasonable jury could find the defendant not guilty of the principal charge made in the indictment but guilty of a lesser-included offense, the trial judge ordinarily should instruct the jury regarding the offense. Fairchild v. State, 459 So.2d 793, 800 (Miss.1984); Tyler v. State, 784 So.2d 972, 975 (Miss.Ct.App.2001). We have repeatedly held that the accused is entitled to a lesser offense instruction only where there is an evidentiary basis in the record therefor. Such instructions should not be granted indiscriminately, nor on the basis of pure speculation. Wilson v. State, 639 So.2d 1326, 1329 (Miss.1994) (citations omitted). ¶ 18. Jacobs argues that the trial court erred in refusing the jury instruction of the lesser-included offense of manslaughter. He claims that if the jury finds that there was not intent on the part of Jacobs to commit robbery because of the duress, there was not capital murder. This would reduce the crime to murder. Jacobs further avers that the evidence is such that a jury could find that Jacobs shot Mr. Martin because he was under the imminent threat of death himself, therefore, the jury should have been allowed to consider manslaughter as a lesser included offense. ¶ 19. This Court finds that the trial court was correct in denying the manslaughter instruction because there was no factual basis or evidence to support the instruction. Even if Jacobs was found not guilty of murder, he would nevertheless be guilty of capital murder because the victim was killed in the commission of a robbery. The jury was given instructions that duress is a defense to robbery, and the jury found that there was no such duress. Therefore, because Jacobs was found guilty of robbery, and the death resulted in the commission of the robbery, Jacobs is guilty of capital murder regardless of whether a lesser-included offense instruction is given. The trial court did not err in refusing the jury instruction of the lesserincluded offense of manslaughter.