State v. Crisantos (Arriagas)

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

STEIN, J.

Appellant was indicted for the murder and robbery of Ramon Torres. Francisco Ruiz was also indicted for those offenses, *267but was never apprehended. After the trial court declined defense counsel’s request to charge manslaughter, N.J.S.A. 2C:ll-4, a jury convicted appellant of felony murder and first-degree robbery. The Appellate Division affirmed the conviction, concluding that appellant was entitled to the manslaughter charge but that the trial court’s failure to give the charge was harmless error because passion/provocation manslaughter “is…