People v. Freeman

Defendant was convicted on the charge of armed robbery, MCLA 750.529; MSA 28.797, by an Oakland County Circuit Court jury.

This is another in an increasing number of appeals involving trial court instructions relating to the supposed obligation of a jury to find a defendant not guilty of the major offense charged before it can consider what has been known for years in the judicial terminology of this state as "lesser included offenses”.

This is not the law of the state of Michigan, and to the best of our knowledge it never was. Trial judges should not so charge explicitly and they should not…