People v. Bryant

Opinion

LIU, J.

During an altercation in an apartment they shared, defendant Amalia Catherine Bryant stabbed her boyfriend once in the chest, killing him. The jury convicted her of second degree murder. On appeal, the Court of Appeal reversed the murder conviction, concluding that the trial court erred by failing to sua sponte instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense of murder on the theory that defendant killed without malice in the commission of an inherently dangerous assaultive felony. We granted review to decide whether such a theory of voluntary…