What is a court's obligation to instruct a sua sponte on a lesser included crime?

"A court must instruct sua sponte on general principles of law that are closely and openly connected with the facts presented at trial. [Citation.] This sua sponte obligation extends to lesser included offenses if the evidence 'raises a question as to whether all of the elements of the charged offense are present and there is evidence that would justify a conviction of such a lesser offense. [Citations.]' [Citations.] As we stated recently, 'A criminal defendant is entitled to an instruction on a lesser included offense only if [citation] "there is evidence which, if accepted by the trier of fact, would absolve [the] defendant from guilt of the greater offense" [citation] but not the lesser. [Citations].' [Citation.]" (People v. Lopez (1998) 19 Cal.4th 282, 287-288, italics in original.)

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