Does a failure to instruct a jury on a lesser included offense in a non capital case require reversal?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Clinton, A140056 (Cal. App. 2016):

Even if the trial court erred, the error was harmless. "The failure to instruct on a lesser included offense in a noncapital case does not require reversal 'unless an examination of the entire record establishes a reasonable probability that the error affected the outcome.' [Citation.] 'Such posttrial review focuses not on what a reasonable jury could do, but what such a jury is likely to have done in the absence of the error under consideration. In making that evaluation, an appellate court may consider, among other things, whether the evidence supporting the existing judgment is so relatively strong, and the evidence supporting a different outcome is so comparatively weak, that there is no reasonable probability the error of which the defendant complains affected the result.' " (People v. Thomas, supra, 53 Cal.4th at p. 814, fn. omitted.)

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