California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Garcia, B255566 (Cal. App. 2015):
Appellant contends the trial court erred in rejecting his request that the jury be instructed with CALCRIM No. 571, which sets forth the elements of voluntary manslaughter based on imperfect self-defense. That crime is a lesser included offense of murder. (People v. Booker (2011) 51 Cal.4th 141, 181-182 (Booker).) Generally, the trial court is obliged to instruct on a lesser included offense "when the evidence raises a question whether all of the elements of the charged offense were present . . . [citation]," but not "[w]hen there is no evidence the offense was committed less than that charged . . . ." (Id. at p. 181.) As we explain below, there is insufficient evidence to support the requested instruction.
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