United States v. Lasley, Jr., No. 15-1738 (8th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of second-degree murder of his parents in Indian country and the district court imposed two consecutive life sentences. The court concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter where a rational jury could not have acquitted defendant of first- and second-degree murder and convicted him of involuntary manslaughter. The court concluded that defendant's sentence was not substantively unreasonable, findings of premeditated murder were not clearly erroneous, defendant's sentence is within the guidelines range, and the district court did not abuse its substantial sentencing discretion in imposing an admittedly harsh within-guidelines sentence. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Loken, Author, with Wollman and Bright, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. The district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to give defendant's requested instruction on the crime of involuntary manslaughter as a rational jury could not, based on the evidence in the case, acquit defendant of first- and second-degree murder and convict him of involuntary manslaughter; defendant's within-guidelines sentence of consecutive life sentences, while admittedly harsh, was not substantively unreasonable. Judge Bright dissenting.
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