"Dr.L.D.Misek-Falkoff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Sue and group - there certainly does seem to be in common the issue
whether a defendant is entitled to a jury charge on lesser-included
charges.This way the sentence would have to be less.
As I recall - check me out - the defense in the Nanny trial did not want
this because they wanted absolute innocence or absolute guilt, using the
strategy that absolute guilt woudln't happen. But if this is right, as
I say, check me out -- then how did the lesser-included count come about
in the Nanny trial; my memory is not recent on this, appreciate if you
or group could post on this;
do you think there's any generalization possible on these things, and
can the absolute black/white defense ever work, or should attorneys
argue the gray? C U soon, :) LDMF.
--------------------Sue Hartigan wrote:-------------------------------
>
> Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> No 96-1693
>
> Court below: United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
>
> At issue in this death-penalty case is whether a person convicted of
> felony murder had a due process right to have jury instructions on
> lesser-included charges (second-degree murder or manslaughter) when,
> under
> Nebraska law, no lesser-included offenses for felony murder exist.
>
> On March 29, 1980 Randolph Reeves raped and stabbed two women to death
> in
> a Quaker meetinghouse in Lincoln, NE. A jury found him guilty of felony
> murder and a three judge panel sentenced him to death. The jury was
> told
> that the penalty for felony murder could be life imprisonmente or death.
> The court below held that under Beck v. Alabama (447 US 625 (1980)), the
> jury had to be instructed on lesser-included offenses if the evidence
> could warrant a conviction for those offenses. The State maintains that
> felony murder has never included lesser offenses in NE and since the
> three
> judge panel had discretion in sentencing, the Beck rule doesn't apply.
>
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