Court Opinion

ID: 9475886
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:41:37.257932+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:00.546012
License: Public Domain

McKAY, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part:
With one exception, I concur in Judge Baldock’s analysis of the evolution and current status of law relating to lesser included offenses. However, in my view, that exception requires a different result.
As I understand the law, there are two parallel tests governing whether an offense is a lesser included offense. The first and traditional one is the “necessarily included” test. United States v. Swingler, 758 F.2d 477, 498-99 (10th Cir.1985); Larson v. United States, 296 F.2d 80, 81 (10th Cir.1961). The more recently developed is the “inherent relationship” test. United States v. Pino, 606 F.2d 908, 916 (10th Cir.1979). I agree with Judge Baldock’s analysis of these doctrines and agree that both are proper tests. However, the latter implicates an important due process concern that the former does not.
Due process requires that a defendant: 1) have notice in advance of the charges against him, and 2) an opportunity to prepare and execute a response to those charges, including motions, objections, affirmative evidence and trial strategy. The “necessarily included” test fully satisfies these requirements. Because each element of the lesser included offense is also an element of the primary charge, the defendant is fully notified of the charges he faces. Consequently, defense of the greater offense compels preparation and response to each element of the lesser included offense. Thus, it is perfectly proper for the court to give that instruction at the request of the defendant, the prosecution, or sua sponte —whether or not any party objects.
The “inherent relationship” test does not lead to the same result. By definition, at least one element of the “lesser included” offense is not an element of the greater offense with which defendant is charged. Thus, defendant does not have advance notice of at least one element against which he must defend. Furthermore, defendant *1290does not have the opportunity to develop his strategy with the knowledge of all matters with which he will be charged. Thus, when we look at the record, we are judging the sufficiency of the evidence based on a record which may or may not reflect the record the defendant might fairly have made had the notice been supplied.
We have only recently condemned the giving of a charge in the language of the statute when one element in the statute was not included in the grand jury charge. United States v. Sloan, 811 F.2d 1359, 1363 (10th Cir.1987). To emphasize the importance of the issue, we quoted from the Supreme Court’s statement of the underlying principle as follows:
If it lies within the province of a court to change the charging part of an indictment to suit its own notions of what it ought to have been, ... the great importance which the common law attaches to an indictment by a grand jury, as a prerequisite to a prisoner’s trial for a crime, and without which the constitution says “no person shall be held to answer,” may be frittered away until its value is almost destroyed.
Id. at 1363 n. 6 (quoting Stirone v. United States, 361 U.S. 212, 216, 80 S.Ct. 270, 272, 4 L.Ed.2d 252 (1960)) (quoting Ex parte Bain, 121 U.S. 1, 10, 7 S.Ct. 781, 786, 30 L.Ed. 849 (1887)).
While the Sloan case is not directly on point, it reinforces the notion that the “inherent relationship” instruction is essentially an ameliorative instruction for the benefit of accused persons. Giving such instruction over objection by the accused violates both due process and the rights embodied in grand jury indictments. In light of those concerns, I would hold that, if the defendant objects, the court cannot give instructions on a lesser included offense based only on the “inherent relationship” test. Unlike the prosecution, defendant does not choose the charges but is required to respond to that for which he has been given notice. In this case, that notice was not given in advance as to distinct elements contained in § 113(c) and § 113(f), and defendant made a timely objection. I would therefore reverse and remand for a new trial.1
I recognize that in this case there is some basis for confidently claiming that the trial might not have looked any different. However, I do not believe the peculiarities of the facts in this case justify a general rule which comes from sustaining the giving of these lesser included instructions over defendant’s objections. Confidence in the guilt of a defendant might be said of many unrelated charges which, for one reason or another, become a part of the record — especially in conspiracy cases. We would not tolerate a conviction for an uncharged, unrelated crime, no matter how convincing the record on that issue. I would likewise not tolerate it over objection in the very loose standards which we apply in the “inherent relationship” cases.

. Raymond Cooper argues that a judgment and conviction on simple assault, § 113(e), should be entered. He does not, however, argue that simple assault is the only lesser included offense of which he can be convicted. Therefore, I would also remand his case for a new trial.