State v. Davis

Respondent Kenneth Davis was convicted of second degree felony murder, with the underlying felony of second degree assault. We are asked to decide one issue: is a defendant charged with second degree murder entitled to a lesser included offense instruction for first and second degree manslaughter? We hold that no such instruction is required.

The following facts were disclosed during a jury trial. In early May 1989, Joyce Davis informed her husband of 20 years, Kenneth Davis, that she was moving out of the family home in The Dalles, Oregon. She moved out and took the couple's 16-year-old…