State v. Graves

ARNOLD, Judge.

Defendant assigns as error the failure of the court to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter as a possible verdict. He contends that the evidence raised the offense of involuntary manslaughter. There is merit in this contention.

Involuntary manslaughter has been defined as “the unlawful killing . . . without malice, without premeditation and deliberation, and without intention to kill or inflict serious bodily injury.” See State v. Wrenn, 279 N.C. 676, 682, 185 S.E. 2d 129 (1971). Defendant's testimony is explicit that he did not intentionally shoot anyone, and in fact…