Opinion ID: 1060411
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence Supporting Lesser-Included Offense Instruction

Text: Having concluded that facilitation of robbery is a lesser-included offense, we next consider whether the evidence justified an instruction on that offense. In Burns , we adopted the following two-step analysis for determining whether a lesser-included offense instruction should be given: First, the trial court must determine whether any evidence exists that reasonable minds could accept as to the lesser-included offense. In making this determination, the trial court must view the evidence liberally in the light most favorable to the existence of the lesser-included offense without making any judgments on the credibility of such evidence. Second, the trial court must determine if the evidence, viewed in this light, is legally sufficient to support a conviction for the lesser-included offense. 6 S.W.3d at 469. Error in omitting a lesser-included offense instruction is not negated merely because the evidence also is sufficient to convict on the greater offense. State v. Bowles, 52 S.W.3d 69, 75 (Tenn.2001). A defendant need not demonstrate a basis for acquittal on the greater offense to be entitled to an instruction on the lesser offense. Id. The trial court must provide an instruction on a lesser-included offense supported by the evidence even if such instruction is not consistent with the theory of the State or of the defense. The evidence, not the theories of the parties, controls whether an instruction is required. The Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that Allen was not entitled to an instruction on facilitation of robbery because there was no dispute that a deadly weapon was used in the robbery. In other words, the Court of Criminal Appeals held that the trial court's failure to instruct on facilitation of robbery was not error because evidence of the use of a deadly weaponthe element distinguishing aggravated robbery from robbery in this casewas uncontroverted. To properly address this issue, parts (a) and (c) of the Burns test must be analyzed. As previously established, robbery is a lesser-included offense of the charged offense of aggravated robbery under part (a) of the Burns test. As a general rule, evidence sufficient to warrant an instruction on the greater offense also will support an instruction on a lesser offense under part (a) of the Burns test. In proving the greater offense the State necessarily has proven the lesser offense because all of the statutory elements of the lesser offense are included in the greater. See Bowles, 52 S.W.3d at 80. Application of the general rule does not conflict with the first step of the two-step Burns analysis requiring a court to determine whether any evidence exists that reasonable minds could accept as to the lesser-included offense. We did not hold in Burns that a lesser-included offense instruction is required when reasonable minds could accept that only the lesser offense occurred. Reasonable minds may accept the same evidence as supporting the existence of both the greater offense and the lesser offense. The same evidence also may be legally sufficient to support a conviction for either the greater offense or the lesser offense. Consequently, the Burns analysis does not preclude finding that the same evidence supports an instruction on both the greater offense and the lesser offense. The general rule for lesser offenses under part (a) of the Burns test does not extend to lesser offenses under part (c) of the test. Part (c) of the test expressly designates facilitation, attempt, and solicitation as lesser offenses. For lesser offenses under part (c), proof of the greater offense will not necessarily prove the lesser offense. Facilitation is established by proof that knowing that another intends to commit a specific felony, but without the intent required for criminal responsibility under § 39-11-402(2), the person knowingly furnishes substantial assistance in the commission of the felony. Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-11-403. The proof in this case showed that Allen stood silently in the doorway of the market as his accomplice robbed the clerk at gunpoint. Allen displayed no weapon and took no property from the victim. There was no evidence that he received any proceeds of the robbery. The jury could have reasonably concluded that Allen did not share the intent of his accomplice even though he knowingly furnished substantial assistance by blocking the door. Furthermore, consistent with the general rule, the proof of aggravated robbery in this case necessarily proved robbery. Therefore, evidence existed that reasonable minds could accept as to the offense of facilitation of robbery. [2] We reject the proposition that no reasonable mind could accept the existence of the offense of facilitation of robbery because evidence of the use of a deadly weapon was uncontroverted. In this case, the use of a deadly weapon is an element of the charged offense of aggravated robbery. The absence, however, of a deadly weapon is not an element of facilitation of robbery. The jury is not required to believe any evidence offered by the State. See Tenn. Const. art. I, § 19 (stating that the jury shall have a right to determine the law and the facts). In fact the jury in this case rejected the proof of the use of a deadly weapon in convicting the defendant of robbery rather than the charged offense of aggravated robbery. We therefore cannot agree that the decision to convict on a lesser-included offense may be taken away from the jury whenever proof supporting the element distinguishing the greater offense from the lesser offense is uncontroverted. As we stated in Burns , [t]he jury, not the judge, performs the function of fact-finder. 6 S.W.3d at 472. We conclude that evidence existed in this case that reasonable minds could accept as to the offense of facilitation of robbery. Furthermore, the evidence was legally sufficient to support a conviction for facilitation of robbery. Accordingly, we hold that the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on facilitation of robbery.