Garcia

Victor Garcia struck Aristeo Gonzalez in the face with the butt of a shotgun, causing Gonzalez to fall, hit his head on the sidewalk and die. Could a jury find Garcia guilty of involuntary manslaughter, rather than second degree murder or voluntary manslaughter, based on Garcia’s testimony he hit Gonzalez in an automatic response to Gonzalez’s lunge at the shotgun and did not aim for Gonzalez’s face and did not intend to kill the man? An unlawful killing during the commission of an inherently dangerous felony, even if unintentional, is at least voluntary manslaughter. Because an assault with a deadly weapon or with a firearm is inherently dangerous, the trial court properly concluded the evidence would not support Garcia’s conviction for involuntary manslaughter and, therefore, did not err in declining to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense of murder. We affirm the judgment, modified only to correct a clerical error as to Garcia’s sentence.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On the morning of March 6, 2005, after arguing with his girlfriend, Cynthia Ramos, Garcia drank a quantity of beer and inexpensive fortified wine. While walking…