HSC Vacates Conviction that Might be Based on the Imaginary Offense of Attempted Manslaughter
Stanley v. State (HSC January 5, 2021) Background. In 1988, Edward Stanley was involved with the police in a shootout with the police and others. He was indicted with four counts of attempted murder in the first degree and one count of attempted murder in the second degree. At trial, the judge acquitted Stanley of one of the attempted murder in the first degree counts and allowed the rest to go to the jury for consideration. In the trial court’s instructions to the jury, the court explained that if they could not find that attempted murder in the first or second degree was proven beyond a reasonable doubt, the jurors had to consider the included offense of attempted manslaughter. The court instructed that attempted manslaughter is the attempt to “recklessly cause the death of another person.” The court in the same jury instruction also explained that is a defense to murder of either degree that “reduces the offense to attempted manslaughter” when the defendant was “under the