California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Wilson, C069485 (Cal. App. 2012):
In criminal cases, the trial court must instruct on principles of law relevant to the issues raised by the evidence, even absent a request from counsel for such instructions. "'That obligation has been held to include giving instructions on lesser included offenses when the evidence raises a question as to whether all of the elements of the charged offense were present [citation], but not when there is no evidence that the offense was less than that charged. [Citations.]'" (People v. Breverman (1998) 19 Cal.4th 142, 154.)
"Voluntary manslaughter is a lesser included offense of murder. [Citation.]" (People v. Booker (2011) 51 Cal.4th 141, 181.) Hence, attempted voluntary manslaughter is a lesser
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