People v. Sills CA4/3

facts underlying the particular instruction exist.’” (People v. Souza (2012) 54 Cal.4th 90, 115–116 (Souza).) Eric Scott Sills killed his wife Susann in an upstairs bedroom of 1 their home. Susann had wounds all over her body and a broken vertebra in her neck. Susann died from ligature strangulation. Sills moved Susann’s body to the staircase to make it appear as though she died from a fall, rather than from his assaultive conduct. A jury convicted Sills of second degree murder. Sills claims the trial court should have instructed the jury sua sponte on involuntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense. Sills argues that a reasonable jury could have found that he “did not realize the danger to [Susann’s] life his assaultive conduct posed.” We find no evidence in the record to support a plausible theory that Sills (a medical doctor) did not realize that his assaultive conduct was dangerous to human life. Thus, we find that the trial court did not commit an instructional error, and we affirm the judgment.

I.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In November 2016, Sills and Susann lived in a home in San Clemente with their twin 12-year-old children, M.S. (Daughter) and E.S. (Son).…