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Lesser Included Offenses

By Baker Associates

The concept of "lesser included" offenses is an important one in the realm of criminal law. Simply put, a "lesser included" offense is one that has many of the same elements as a more serious offense but is punished to a lesser degree. For instance, if a defendant is charged with first-degree murder, some lesser included offenses would be attempted first degree murder, second-degree murder, attempted second degree murder, etc. Lesser included offenses are so important in the area of criminal law that courts have held that attorneys sometimes provide ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to request jury instructions on lesser included offenses and that lower courts have made prejudicial errors by failing to give instructions on them.continue to full post

Full post as published by Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog on November 17, 2010 (boomark / email).