Hayward v. State

OPINION

in which MEYERS, WOMACK, JOHNSON, KEASLER, HERVEY, HOLCOMB, and COCHRAN, JJ., joined.

The State charged the appellant with committing murder by stabbing the victim. The appellant requested a lesser-included offense instruction for assault because she said in a statement that she had only hit the victim with her fists and wrestled with him. We hold that the trial court did not err in denying the appellant’s request because an assault using fists is not a lesser-included offense of murder by stabbing.

I. Pacts

Jonas Onwuchuruba, the appellant’s ex-husband, was found stabbed to death in his…