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Mo. Rev. Stat. § 556.046

Conviction of included offenses — jury instructions

Known as the The Revised Criminal Code

The act spans §§ 556–556 (12 sections).

Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case McIntyre v. Caspari (1994)

Most recently applied in 8 Cal. 5th 57 - People v. Fontenot (August 2019)

Effective: 28 Aug 2022, 3 histories; (L. 1977 S.B. 60, A.L. 2001 S.B. 223, A.L. 2014 S.B. 491, A.L. 2022 S.B. 775, et al.)

How often courts cite this section

1986199020002010201910
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

1. A person may be convicted of an offense included in an offense charged in the indictment or information. An offense is so included when:

(1) It is established by proof of the same or less than all the facts required to establish the commission of the offense charged; or

(2) It is specifically denominated by statute as a lesser degree of the offense charged; or

(3) It consists of an attempt to commit the offense charged or to commit an offense otherwise included therein.

2. The court shall not be obligated to charge the jury with respect to an included offense unless there is a rational basis for a verdict acquitting the person of the offense charged and convicting him or her of the included offense. An offense is charged for purposes of this section if:

(1) It is in an indictment or information; or

(2) It is an offense submitted to the jury because there is a rational basis for a verdict acquitting the person of the offense charged and convicting the person of the included offense.

3. The court shall be obligated to instruct the jury with respect to a particular included offense only if the instruction is requested and there is a rational basis in the evidence for acquitting the person of the immediately higher included offense and convicting the person of that particular included offense.

Official source: Missouri Revisor of Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Missouri statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.