Sampson

MEMORANDUM *

Defendant Lynford Ray Sampson appeals his conviction and sentence, after a jury trial, for voluntary manslaughter, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153 and 1112(a) and (b). We affirm.

On June 27, 1999, the body of Alvin Miguel was found in the yard of a residence on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. A stab wound to the neck had severed Miguel’s jugular vein and caused him to bleed to death. The following day, Sampson was charged with second degree murder in Miguel’s death. At trial, Sampson’s daughter testified that on the evening of July 27, she watched Sampson take a whiskey bottle from the top of the car in his front yard, attempt to break the bottle several times, and finally succeed in breaking it against the ear. Sampson’s daughter tried to pull him away from Miguel, but the defendant shook her away. He swung the broken bottle at Miguel in a downward motion, slashed Miguel’s neck, and told him to leave. Miguel then walked off the property, apparently climbed a fence, and collapsed in the nearby yard where he died. At the conclusion of the trial, defense counsel requested jury instructions regarding involuntary manslaughter as a lesser included…