Opinion ID: 1345760
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the errors

Text: The right to instructions on lesser included offenses is an aspect of the fundamental fairness demanded by due process, and such instructions are required in capital cases by the federal Constitution. ( Beck v. Alabama (1980) 447 U.S. 625, 627 et seq. [65 L.Ed.2d 392, 396, 100 S.Ct. 2382].) The right in noncapital cases is an incident to due process guaranteed by our state Constitution. Absence of lesser-included-offense instructions diminishes the reliability of the determination. ( People v. Geiger (1984) 35 Cal.3d 510, 518-520 [199 Cal. Rptr. 45, 674 P.2d 1303, 50 A.L.R.4th 1055].) Theft is a lesser included offense to robbery, which includes the additional element of force or fear. ( People v. Melton (1988) 44 Cal.3d 713, 746 [244 Cal. Rptr. 867, 750 P.2d 741]; People v. Covington (1934) 1 Cal.2d 316, 320-321 [34 P.2d 1019].) The court must instruct on a lesser included offense on its own motion `when the evidence raises a question as to whether all of the elements of the charged offense are present and there is evidence that would justify a conviction of such a lesser offense.' ( People v. Melton, supra, 44 Cal.3d 713, 746.) Had a properly instructed jury convicted defendant of theft, the evidence would be sufficient to uphold the conviction. People v. Ramkeesoon (1985) 39 Cal.3d 346 [216 Cal. Rptr. 455, 702 P.2d 613] presented an analogous record, in that defendant was charged with robbery and murder, and the court failed to instruct on theft where the defendant testified that his intent to steal arose after the killing. There, defendant's convictions of first degree murder and robbery were reversed on the ground that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct on larceny and theft as a lesser included offense of robbery. The court in its unanimous opinion stated: It cannot be seriously disputed that the court erred.... It is well settled that the trial court is obligated to instruct on necessarily included offenses โ even without a request โ when the evidence raises a question as to whether all of the elements of the charged offense are present and there is evidence that would justify a conviction of such a lesser offense. ( People v. Wickersham (1982) 32 Cal.3d 307, 325 [185 Cal. Rptr. 436, 650 P.2d 311]; People v. Sedeno (1974) 10 Cal.3d 703, 715 [112 Cal. Rptr. 1, 518 P.2d 913].) The necessity for instructions on lesser included offenses is based in the defendant's constitutional right to have the jury determine every material issue presented by the evidence. ( People v. Geiger (1984) 35 Cal.3d 510, 519 [199 Cal. Rptr. 45, 674 P.2d 1303, 50 A.L.R.4th 1055]; People v. Modesto (1963) 59 Cal.2d 722, 730 [31 Cal. Rptr. 225, 382 P.2d 33].) As the United States Supreme Court explained in Keeble v. United States (1973) 412 U.S. 205, 212 [36 L.Ed.2d 844, 850, 93 S.Ct. 1993]: `[I]t is no answer to petitioner's demand for a jury instruction on a lesser included offense to argue that a defendant may be better off without such an instruction. True, if the prosecution has not established beyond a reasonable doubt every element of the offense charged, and if no lesser offense instruction is offered, the jury must, as a theoretical matter, return a verdict of acquittal. But a defendant is entitled to a lesser offense instruction โ in this context or any other โ precisely because he should not be exposed to the substantial risk that the jury's practice will diverge from theory. Where one of the elements of the offense charged remains in doubt, but the defendant is plainly guilty of some offense, the jury is likely to resolve its doubts in favor of conviction.' (See also People v. St. Martin (1970) 1 Cal.3d 524, 533 [83 Cal. Rptr. 166, 463 P.2d 390].) Clearly the evidence in this case warranted an instruction on theft as a lesser included offense. Defendant testified that he had not thought about stealing any of Mullins' property until after the assault was completed. If defendant had not harbored a larcenous intent before or during the assault, the taking was theft rather than robbery. ( People v. Green (1980) 27 Cal.3d 1, 54 [164 Cal. Rptr. 1, 609 P.2d 468].) Although the jury was not required to believe defendant's testimony, it was credible enough to have supported a verdict of theft instead of robbery. (See People v. Wickersham, supra, 32 Cal.3d at p. 325.) ( People v. Ramkeesoon, supra, 39 Cal.3d 346, 351, italics in original.) Defendant in the instant case, as in Ramkeesoon, testified that he had not thought about stealing any property until after the fight was completed. If he did not harbor larcenous intent before or during the fight, the taking was theft instead of robbery. He confessed from the witness stand to taking the television set and stealing the car. The fact that he said he panicked would not preclude a finding of theft. Defendant's testimony and the similar statements related by the psychiatrist were sufficiently credible to have supported a verdict of theft instead of robbery. I conclude, as the majority do, that the trial court erred in failing to instruct on the lesser included offense of theft.