Opinion ID: 2612518
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to give reckless manslaughter instruction

Text: Defendant requested that the jury be instructed on the crime of reckless manslaughter, and objected to the trial court's refusal to do so. He claims that the instruction is supported by his statement to Det. Petropoulos that he was intoxicated at the time of the murder. In a capital case, the trial court must instruct the jury on each degree of homicide supported by the evidence. State v. Thomas, 112 Ariz. 261, 540 P.2d 1242 (1975). In this case, the trial court instructed the jury on both first and second degree murder; however, the facts do not support a reckless manslaughter instruction. The brutality of the murder precludes a reckless manslaughter instruction in this case, where the defendant showed such extreme indifference to human life. Even if intoxication negated defendant's intent, he nevertheless would be guilty of second degree murder, not manslaughter. See State v. Reffitt, 145 Ariz. 452, 463, 702 P.2d 681, 692 (1985). Additionally, when a defendant is convicted of first degree murder rather than second degree murder, any error as to instructions on lesser included offenses is necessarily harmless, because the jury has necessarily rejected all lesser-included crimes. State v. Ortiz, 158 Ariz. 528, 764 P.2d 13 (1988).