Opinion ID: 1796222
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lesser-Included Jury Instructions

Text: At the close of all the evidence, the circuit court and counsel conferred about jury instructions. Mr. Wyles sought instructions on second-degree murder and manslaughter. The circuit court did not completely deny Mr. Wyles's entire request for lesser-included instructions; instead, the court gave lesser-included instructions on second-degree murder and manslaughter, but refused to instruct the jury on alternative grounds for those lesser-included offenses. No right has been more zealously protected by this court than the right of an accused to have the jury instructed on lesser-included offenses. Brown v. State, 347 Ark. 44, 60 S.W.3d 422 (2001). We have often stated that it is reversible error to refuse to give an instruction on a lesser-included offense when the instruction is supported by even the slightest evidence. Harshaw v. State, 344 Ark. 129, 39 S.W.3d 753 (2001). Thus, we will affirm a trial court's decision to exclude an instruction on a lesser-included offense only if there is no rational basis for giving the instruction. Id. The State argues that because the jury was instructed on one theory of second-degree murder and one theory of manslaughter, the test for reversible error in the rejection of additional instructions on those offenses is not the slightest-evidence standard, but rather whether the omission infected the entire trial such that the resulting conviction violates due process. Branstetter v. State, 346 Ark. 62, 57 S.W.3d 105 (2001) (holding no rational basis for requested instructions). In accord with Branstetter, we have held that it is reversible error to refuse to give an instruction on a lesser-included offense when the instruction is supported by even the slightest evidence. McCoy v. State, 347 Ark. 913, 69 S.W.3d 430 (2002). Thus, we do not agree that a different standard for instructing the jury on lesser-included offenses is applicable in this case.