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People v. Barton12/18/1995
KENNARD, J.:
In a criminal trial, it is ordinarily the trial court's duty to instruct the jury not only on the crime with which the defendant is charged, but also on any lesser offense that is both included in the offense charged and shown by the evidence to have been committed.
Here, defendant was charged with murder. At trial, the parties presented evidence from which the jury could reasonably conclude that he was guilty not of murder, but of voluntary manslaughter, a lesser offense included within the crime of murder. For tactical reasons, however, defendant asked the trial court not to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter; the court denied the request. The jury convicted defendant of voluntary manslaughter, and the trial court sentenced him to a 10-year prison term. Defendant now contends that the trial court should not have given the instruction at issue.
We conclude that a defendant may not invoke tactical considerations to deprive the jury of the opportunity to consider whether the defendant is guilty of a lesser offense included within the crime charged. A trial court should instruct the jury on any lesser included offense supported by the evidence, regardless of the defendant's opposition. Thus, the trial court in this case acted properly when, over defendant's objection, it instructed the jury on voluntary manslaughter. We therefore affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which upheld defendant's conviction.
I
Defendant was charged with the murder of Marco Sanchez. (Pen. Code, § 187; unless otherwise stated, all statutory references are to the Penal Code.) The relevant facts are these:
On the morning of February 22, 1990, while driving her car on Grand Avenue in Pacific Beach, Andrea Barton, defendant's 20-year-old daughter, had an unpleasant encounter with Marco Sanchez, the victim in this case. Eyewitness accounts of this incident differed. Most witnesses, however, testified that Sanchez, whose car was behind Andrea's, honked his horn when Andrea's car stalled in an intersection, and that Andrea responded with a rude gesture. Sanchez then cut into Andrea's lane so close to Andrea's car that she had to brake and swerve to the side of the road to avoid a collision, whereupon Sanchez drove his car next to Andrea's and spat on the closed passenger window of Andrea's car.
Extremely upset over the incident, Andrea drove to defendant's nearby real estate office and told him what had occurred. Defendant suggested that they look for Sanchez's car. Defendant, who managed several apartment buildings and frequently carried large sums of money, had a permit to carry a concealed weapon for business purposes only. He had received training in the use of semiautomatic weapons during the six years he spent in the Marine Corps (six months on active duty, five and one-half years reserve duty), and owned about fifteen guns. He customarily carried a semiautomatic handgun in his pocket, and had one with him on this occasion.
Defendant and Andrea located Sanchez's car in a nearby shopping center. They found Sanchez at one of the stores. A lengthy argument ensued. Defendant waved his finger in Sanchez's face and swore at him. According to one prosecution witness, Sanchez was also mad and swearing, but another prosecution witness described Sanchez as frightened and defensive.
Sanchez left the store, followed by defendant and Andrea. About a minute later, Andrea returned to the store. She told a cashier to call the police because Sanchez's car "is going to get really thrashed."
In the meantime, Sanchez entered another sto
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