Court Opinion

ID: 9730837
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:26:01.171409+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:09.890628
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
concurring in result.
Based upon the evidence, it was proper for the court to refuse to instruct the jury that attempted voluntary manslaughter was a lesser and included offense of attempted murder. Evidence sufficient on appeal to support a jury finding of the culpability for murder is sufficient on appeal to support a jury finding of the culpability for manslaughter. McDonald v. State, (1976) 264 Ind. 477, 346 N.E.2d 569; Anthony v. State, (1980) Ind., 409 N.E.2d 632. But evidence sufficient to support a jury finding of the culpability for murder is not enough on appeal to demonstrate that the trial court committed error in refusing to instruct on manslaughter as a lesser and included offense of murder. The test to be applied when the claim is made on appeal that the trial court committed error in refusing to instruct on manslaughter as a lesser included offense of murder, is: Was the evidence such that it, by reason of proof *94of sudden heat, could create a reasonable doubt in the mind of the trier of fact of the presence of the culpability for murder. Williams v. State, (1980) Ind., 402 N.E.2d 954. If it was, the error is established. In the case before us the evidence presented does not meet this test, and therefore the error is not shown.
PRENTICE, J., concurs.