Opinion ID: 2584374
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: issues

Text: A district court must instruct the jury on lesser included crimes when there is some evidence that would reasonably justify a conviction of some lesser included crime. K.S.A. 22-3414(3); see State v. Engelhardt, 280 Kan. 113, 134, 119 P.3d 1148 (2005). But lesser included crime instructions are not required if the evidence would not permit a rational factfinder to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the lesser included offenses. 280 Kan. at 134, 119 P.3d 1148. When a defendant does not object to a district court's giving or failure to give an instruction for a lesser included offense, stating distinctly the matter the defendant objects to and the grounds for the objection, it is reversible error only if the giving or failure to give the instruction was clearly erroneous. See K.S.A. 22-3414(3); Engelhardt, 280 Kan. at 134-35, 119 P.3d 1148. Further, if a defendant did not request a lesser included offense instruction, a district court's failure to give the instruction is only clearly erroneous if a reviewing court reaches a firm conviction that, had the instruction been given, there was a real possibility the jury would have returned a different verdict. State v. Simmons, 282 Kan. 728, 741, 148 P.3d 525 (2006) (citing State v. Boone, 277 Kan. 208, 220, 83 P.3d 195 [2004]).