Opinion ID: 1060583
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Instruction on Facilitation

Text: We now turn to the question of whether an instruction on facilitation of a felony should have been given in this case. A trial court has the statutory duty to charge the jury as to all of the law of each offense included in the indictment, without any request on the part of the defendant to do so. Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-18-110(a) (1997). This does not mean, however, that an instruction must be given simply because an offense is a lesser-included offense of another. In Burns , we adopted a two-step analysis for determining whether an instruction on a lesser-included offense must be given. First, the trial court must determine whether any evidence exists that reasonable minds could accept as to the lesser-included offense. Burns, 6 S.W.3d at 469. In this regard, the trial court must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the existence of the lesser-included offense, without regard to the credibility of the evidence. Second, the trial court must determine whether the evidence viewed in this light is legally sufficient to support a conviction for the lesser-included offense. Id. The evidence in this case revealed that Fowler and his codefendants engaged in criminal activity in Hamblen County, for which Fowler pled guilty. As the State argues, this criminal activity warrants an inference that Fowler was criminally responsible for the conduct of his codefendant during the subsequent flight from the scene and evading of police officers. E.g., Carson, 950 S.W.2d at 954. At trial, the defense contended that Fowler was not criminally responsible for the offenses committed by Benton during the flight from police. Fowler argued that his statement to officers and Benton's testimony revealed that he lacked the intent to commit the offense and that he in fact told Benton to pull over. [3] Fowler did not contend he was guilty of facilitation, did not show evidence of substantial assistance so as to raise the issue of facilitation and, in fact, did not ask for an instruction on facilitation. In short, the evidence revealed two scenarios: criminal responsibility for Benton's conduct or an acquittal. Accordingly, an instruction on facilitation of a felony was not appropriate under the two-step analysis established in Burns .