State of Tennessee v. Mitchell Shephard

This case is before this court upon remand from the Supreme Court of Tennessee. In our original opinion we affirmed defendant's conviction for first degree murder in perpetration of aggravated child abuse but remanded to the trial court for a new sentencing hearing. In our original opinion we examined numerous issues, including whether the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offenses of reckless homicide and criminally negligent homicide. We concluded the failure to charge these offenses constituted harmless error. The remand from the Supreme Court of Tennessee indicates we should reconsider the lesser-included offense issue in light of State v. Locke, S.W.3d , 2002 Tenn. LEXIS 474 (Tenn. Nov. 14, 2002). We now conclude that the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on the lesser-included offenses of reckless homicide and criminally negligent homicide constitutes reversible error.