State v. Hancock

HEDRICK, Judge.

The defendant assigns as error the trial court’s failure to submit involuntary manslaughter as a permissible verdict. The defendant contends that his statement, “I thought the gun was empty,” particularly when coupled with other evidence in this case, is sufficient to require the question of involuntary manslaughter to be presented to the jury.

“Where, under a bill of indictment, it is permissible to convict defendant of a lesser degree of the crime charged, and there is evidence to support a milder verdict, defendant is entitled to have the different permissible verdicts…