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State v. Burns11/8/1999
Code incorporates a rational basis test for determining when to instruct on lesser-included offenses. Section 1.07(5) of the Model Penal Code provides: "The Court shall not be obligated to charge the jury with respect to an included offense unless there is a rational basis for a verdict acquitting the defendant of the offense charged and convicting him of the included offense." A number of jurisdictions have adopted this provision verbatim by legislation, while other jurisdictions have adopted the rational basis test by judicial decision.
This Court has not previously adopted the rational basis test. In view of the broad language of our statute requiring a charge on lesser-included offenses, Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-18-110(a) (1990), we think that requiring a rational basis for a verdict acquitting the defendant of the offense charged, in addition to requiring a rational basis for a charge on a lesser-included offense, unreasonably limits the circumstances under which a defendant is entitled to a lesser-included offense instruction.
The appellate courts of this State have not, however, been very clear in providing guidance to trial courts regarding when lesser-included offense instructions should be given. In Templeton v. State, 240 S.W. 789, 791 (Tenn. 1922), the Court applied a very broad test simply analyzing whether the facts were at all susceptible of supporting an inference of guilt of the lesser charge. See also State v. Vance, 888 S.W.2d 776, 780-81 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1994). In Strader v. State, 362 S.W.2d 224, 228-29 (Tenn. 1962), the Court held that the lesser-included offense instruction is required "where the evidence, upon any view the jury may take of it, permits an inference of guilt as to such lesser-included offenses." More recently, we restated the test as follows: "a trial court must instruct the jury on all lesser offenses if the evidence introduced at trial is legally sufficient to support a conviction for the lesser offense." Langford, 994 S.W.2d at 128 (quoting Bolden, 979 S.W.2d at 593); see also Cleveland, 959 S.W.2d at 553. An analysis of Langford, Bolden, and Cleveland reveals that this "legally sufficient" language was derived from State v. Trusty, 919 S.W.2d at 305 n. 5. Trusty, in turn, relied on Johnson v. State, 531 S.W.2d 558 (Tenn. 1975); Owen v. State, 221 S.W.2d 515 (1949); and Powers v. State, 97 S.W. 815 (1906). Johnson, however, did not require that evidence be legally sufficient to support a conviction on the lesser-included offense. Johnson instead held that defendant is entitled to lesser-included offense instructions "if there is any evidence which reasonable minds could accept as to any such [lesser] offenses." 531 S.W.2d at 559 (emphasis added). Conversely, Owen and Powers stood for the proposition that if no evidence that would support a finding of guilt of the lesser charge, then the charge should not be given. See Owen, 221 S.W.2d at 520; Powers, 97 S.W. at 87. When read together, our prior decisions, such as Templeton, Strader, and Johnson, and our recent decisions, such as Trusty, Cleveland, Bolden, and Langford, support the application of a two-step analysis for determining whether a lesser-included offense instruction should be given. First, the trial court must determine whether any evidence exists that reasonable minds could accept as to the lesser-included offense. In making this determination, the trial court must view the evidence liberally in the light most favorable to the existence of the lesser-included offense without making any judgments on the credibility of such evidence. Second, the trial court must determine if the evidence, viewed in this light, is legally sufficient to support a conviction for the lesser-included offense. This two-ste
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