Holian v. State (Majority)
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of first-degree felony murder and first-degree battery and failure to stop after an accident with injury or death. Appellant appealed, contending that the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on the offense of felony manslaughter, which he argued was a lesser-included offense of felony murder. In so arguing, Appellant contended that although Perry v. State and Hill v. State supported the trial court's ruling, those cases ignored Ark. Code Ann. 5-2-203(b). The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the Court would not accept Appellant's invitation to overrule Perry and Hill; and (2) the Court's felony-murder jurisprudence is in concert with the legislature's mandate stated in section 5-2-203(b).
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