Opinion ID: 2545369
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Discussion and Analysis (1) The trial court's refusal to instruct on voluntary manslaughter.

Text: The defendant argued that trial evidence required the court to instruct on the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter. In submitting his proposed instruction to the trial court, the defendant argued that voluntary manslaughter was a lesser included offense of premeditated murder and that the victim's grabbing of the shotgun was evidence of a sudden quarrel. In addition to the above arguments, he contends that the trial court's failure to give such an instruction requires a reversal of his conviction. A trial court is required to instruct the jury not only as to the crime charged but also as to all lesser included crimes of which the accused might be found guilty. State v. Sanders, 258 Kan. 409, 413, 904 P.2d 951 (1995). The duty arises when the evidence as a whole, viewed in the light most favorable to the defendant, would justify a verdict on the lesser included offense. State v. Bell, 266 Kan. 896, 905, 975 P.2d 239 (1999). In analyzing whether an instruction on a lesser included offense is necessary, there is some weighing of the evidence, but the weighing of the evidence is not a retrial of the case. State v. Sanders, 258 Kan. at 413. Upon review of the record, we conclude that there was no evidence from which a jury could have found the defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The State's theory was that the killing was premeditated and intentional. The defendant's theory was that the killing was accidental, justifying, at most, second-degree unintentional murder or involuntary manslaughter. In order for a jury to have found the defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter, it would have had to have found that the defendant intentionally killed Bornholdt upon a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion. See K.S.A. 21-3403(a). The defendant argued that there was evidence of a sudden quarrel in that Bornholdt attempted to take the rifle from the defendant. However, the defendant claimed that during, and as a result of, this struggle, the gun went off accidentally. If this were true, the defendant would have been guilty of involuntary manslaughter or at most, second-degree unintentional murder. There was no evidence that during the alleged struggle, the defendant intentionally shot Bornholdt, which is a required element for voluntary manslaughter. Moreover, the crime of voluntary manslaughter requires that there must be evidence that the intentional killing was the result of severe provocation. See State v. Bell, 266 Kan. at 918. The test for whether severe provocation exists is objective and the provocation must be sufficient to cause an ordinary person to lose control of his or her actions. 266 Kan. at 918. It is clear that Bornholdt's alleged act in attempting to grab the shotgun from the defendant would not pass this test. The defendant does not argue that Bornholdt's action in talking to his wife, coupled with the affair 5 years earlier, constituted severe provocation. The defendant testified that he was primarily upset by the fact that his wife had broken her promise to have nothing further to do with Bornholdt, and he was not really as angry at Bornholdt as he was with his wife. No duty to instruct the jury on a lesser included offense exists where the evidence as a whole, viewed in the light most favorable to the defendant, could not reasonably support a jury verdict on the lesser included offense. State v. Bell, 266 Kan. at 905. The evidence could not support a jury verdict of voluntary manslaughter, and the trial court did not err in refusing to instruct on that offense.