Juan Reyes, Jr. v. State, 01-15-00178-CR

Appellant Juan Reyes was indicted for capital murder for causing the death of Terry Todd during the course of a burglary and, alternatively, a robbery; convicted by jury and sentenced to life without parole.
Incident: July 5, 2011 — Todd was found shot dead in a pasture near his truck; autopsy showed a single gunshot wound to the chest.
Physical evidence: shell casings found on the passenger side of the pickup; trajectory and injury evidence suggested possible struggle/deflection of the gun.
Eyewitnesses: Rodrigo Montalvo (vision problems) testified seeing two trucks, two Hispanic men, hearing shots, and the gunman allegedly returning to fire an additional shot; Ronald Heard heard multiple shots and saw two men flee to an SUV but did not see them near the body.
Trial event: Defense requested a jury instruction on the lesser-included offense of felony murder; the trial court denied the request and submitted only capital murder; Reyes appeals that denial.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on felony murder as a lesser-included offense of the capital murder charged	Reyes: Some evidence (conflicting eyewitness accounts, physical signs of struggle/deflection) permits a rational jury to convict of felony (unintentional) murder but not intentional capital murder, so the jury should have been instructed on felony murder	State: (Argued at trial implicitly) evidence supports capital (intentional) murder and the lesser instruction was not supported by the evidence; trial court rejected the requested instruction	Trial court denied the requested felony-murder instruction (appellant contends this was error and appeals)

Cavazos v. State, 382 S.W.3d 377 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012) (standard for "more than a scintilla" of evidence for lesser-included instruction)
Goad v. State, 354 S.W.3d 443 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) (two-pronged test for lesser-included offense charge)
Threadgill v. State, 146 S.W.3d 654 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004) (definition and relation of felony murder as lesser of capital murder in robbery/burglary context)
Rice v. State, 333 S.W.3d 140 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) (first-step legal determination whether an offense is a lesser-included offense)
Salinas v. State, 163 S.W.3d 734 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) (second-step requiring some evidence from which a rational jury could acquit of the greater and convict of the lesser)
Sweed v. State, 351 S.W.3d 63 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) (clarifies that evidence must be directly germane to the lesser offense)
Threadgill/related: Meru v. State, 414 S.W.3d 159 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) (application of lesser-included standards)
Moore v. State, 969 S.W.2d 4 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998) (court may not weigh credibility when deciding sufficiency for submitting lesser offense)
Skinner v. State, 956 S.W.2d 532 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997) (requirement that evidence be directly germane to the lesser-included offense)
Saunders v. State, 840 S.W.2d 390 (Tex. Crim. App. 1992) (interpretation of conflicting evidence on intent)