Justia Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Opinion Summaries

A jury found Appellant Abraham Cavazos, guilty of murder and imposed a punishment of twenty-eight years' confinement and a $5,000 fine. Appellant appealed, claiming that the trial court erred by refusing his requested jury instruction on the charge of manslaughter. The court of appeals held that manslaughter is not a lesser-included offense of murder under Texas Penal Code Section 19.02(b)(2) and thus the trial court did not err by failing to instruct the jury on manslaughter. Furthermore, the court of appeals concluded that even if manslaughter were a lesser-included offense of the type of murder charged in this case, there was no evidence in the record that if Appellant was guilty, he was guilty only of manslaughter. Appellant filed a petition for discretionary review asking the Supreme Court to consider whether the court of appeals erred in holding that manslaughter was not a lesser-included offense of the charged murder and in holding that the trial court did not err by denying Appellant's request to instruct the jury on manslaughter. Upon review, the Court agreed with Appellant that the court of appeals erred in concluding that manslaughter was not a lesser-included offense of the charged murder. However, because the Court concluded there was no evidence that would permit a rational jury to find that, if Appellant was guilty, he was guilty of only the lesser offense, the court of appeals properly held that the trial court did not err in denying Appellant's request for a jury instruction on manslaughter. View "Cavazos v. Texas" on Justia Law