Gause v. Mississippi
Annotate this CaseDefendant Curtis Gause was indicted on capital murder charges in addition to burglary, and aggravated assault. A jury found him guilty of manslaughter and burglary, and not guilty of assault. The circuit court sentenced Defendant to twenty years for manslaughter and twenty-five years for burglary, with sentences to run consecutively in the state Department of Corrections. Defendant appealed, arguing multiple errors at trial. Principal among them, Defendant contended the trial court erred when it allowed the jury to consider a verdict on burglary. Upon careful consideration of the trial court's record and the applicable legal authority, the Supreme Court found that the trial court erred by granting the burglary jury instruction. The Court found that burglary was not a "lesser-included" offense to capital murder, and only Defendant could have asked for the "lesser-included" instruction. The Court affirmed Defendant's conviction on manslaughter, but reversed his conviction on burglary. The Court remanded the case for further proceedings.
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