State v. Fernandez

This case involves the very narrow issue of whether the defendant’s mental state was sufficiently in dispute to entitle him to a jury charge on the lesser included offenses of assault in the third degree by recklessness or assault in the third degree by criminal negligence.1

*42The defendant was tried before a jury on the charge of assault in the first degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-59 (a) (l).2 At the close of argument, the defendant filed written requests to charge on the lesser included offenses described above. Over the defendant’s objection, the state filed a written request…