Oregon v. Swanson
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Defendant David Swanson was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving. At trial, Defendant asked the trial court to instruct the jury on the elements of "careless" driving (a traffic violation), arguing that it is a lesser-included offense of reckless driving. The trial court declined to give such an instruction, and the Court of Appeals affirmed that decision. Upon review, the Supreme Court agreed that "reckless driving" did not extend to the lesser-included violation, and was instead limited to lesser-included criminal offenses: "violations and crimes are distinctive categories of offenses and... juries are authorized to consider only lesser-included crimes, not lesser-included violations of a charged crime."
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