Right to a properly instructed jury; People v Head; Voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense of first-degree murder; People v Mitchell; People v Reese; People v McMullan; Adequate provocation; People v Roper; Malice; People v Baskerville; Right to a fair & impartial jury; People v Jackson (On Reconsideration); People v Bryant; Duren v Missouri

The court held that the trial court did not err by failing to give a voluntary-manslaughter jury instruction, and that defendant’s right to a fair and impartial jury was not violated. He was convicted of second-degree murder, discharge of a firearm in a building causing death, CCW, and felony-firearm for killing the victim after a dispute over a bus pass. The trial court sentenced him to 288 to 480 months for second-degree murder, 180 to 360 for discharging a firearm in a building causing death, 40 to 60 for CCW, and 2 years for felony-firearm. On appeal, the court rejected his argument that the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury regarding voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense of first-degree murder. “As there was no evidence of the killing in this case being the result of defendant acting out of passion rather than reason, the trial court did not err” by failing to give the voluntary-manslaughter instruction. It also rejected his claim that his right to trial by a jury chosen from a fair cross-section of the community was violated. “Because the law puts the burden of production on defendant, and because defendant did not provide any evidence to carry that burden, [his] argument regarding a fair-cross-section claim is without merit.” Moreover, because he “had other evidence he could have pursued, the record simply does not support [his] argument that such a burden was impossible to meet, which would be a violation of his due-process rights.” Affirmed.