California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Johnson, D068437 (Cal. App. 2016):
Our courts have applied two tests in determining whether an uncharged offense is necessarily included within a charged offense: the "elements" test and the "accusatory pleading" test. Under the elements test, if the statutory elements of the greater offense include all of the statutory elements of the lesser offense, the latter is necessarily included in the former. Stated another way, " ' " '[i]f a crime cannot be committed without also necessarily committing a lesser offense, the latter is a lesser included offense within the former.' " ' [Citation.] Nevertheless, if the same evidence is required to support all elements of both offenses, there is no lesser included offense. [Citation.] Each is its own offense, based on different statutes that apply to the same conduct; neither can be said to be a lesser of the other." (People v. Robinson (2016) 63 Cal.4th 200, 207, fn. omitted.)5
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