Opinion ID: 2048572
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: issues

Text: The trial court refused to give, as part of its final instructions, Defendant's proposed Instruction Number 4 which would have informed the jury that reckless homicide is a lesser included offense of murder. Assuming, arguendo, that the offense of reckless homicide may, under certain circumstances, be an included offense of murder, the trial court, nonetheless, properly refused the instruction as there was no evidence rendering it applicable. Jones v. State, (1982) Ind., 438 N.E.2d 972, 975-976. Although Defendant stated that he had attempted to stop his son from running through the house by extending his arm and that in so doing he had struck the child in the stomach, there is no evidence of any blow of sufficient severity that could, by any stretch of the imagination, have been recklessly inflicted.