California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Salazar, 194 Cal.App.3d 634, 239 Cal.Rptr. 746 (Cal. App. 1987):
5 It might appear that this defendant enjoys an ironic and unintended benefit simply because the district attorney elected to charge two offenses here, where he might just as well have filed only the robbery allegation. Since a defendant in appropriate circumstances is entitled to be convicted of an uncharged lesser related offense and, or instead of, a charged greater crime, the anomaly is not as great as it first seems. (People v. Geiger (1984) 35 Cal.3d 510, 199 Cal.Rptr. 45, 674 P.2d 1303.)
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