State v. Hostetter

VICTOR C. HOWARD, Presiding Judge.

On appeal from the judgment entered upon his conviction of assault in the first degree, Larry R. Hostetter, Jr. (Appellant), claims the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offense of assault in the third degree. As explained below, there was no basis for acquittal on the greater offense of first-degree assault, so the trial court did not commit reversible error in refusing to instruct on third-degree assault.

Background

On May 21, 2002, Appellant was taking care of his girlfriend Rachel Griggs’ two-year-old son, Patrick,…