Roger Charles Bridges v. State, 389 S.W.3d 508

Appellant Bridges was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.
The incident occurred December 16, 2010, after Bridges returned home and an altercation with Peggy Bridges ensued.
Peggy testified that Bridges grabbed her hair, pulled her, and knocked over furniture, while holding a knife to her neck and threatening to gut or kill her.
Peggy's testimony about the knife's presence varied between trial and earlier statements; she later described the knife as possibly already in the bedroom.
Bridges claimed he grabbed Peggy to defend himself against her hitting him, denied ever having the knife, and left the room when Peggy started praying, later returning as the dispute continued.
Peggy eventually filed an affidavit of non-prosecution before trial; police arrested Bridges for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court erred by denying a jury instruction on the lesser included offense of assault by threat	Bridges argues the evidence supports a lesser-included offense instruction	State contends no error in the charge or instruction	Trial court abused its discretion; error requires reversal and remand

Barrios v. State, 283 S.W.3d 348 (Tex. Crim. App. 2009) (establishes two-step charge-error analysis)
Ngo v. State, 175 S.W.3d 738 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) (discusses error-harm analysis in charge rulings)
Almanza v. State, 686 S.W.2d 157 (Tex. Crim. App. 1985) (harm standard for trial-charge error)
Hall v. State, 225 S.W.3d 524 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) (cognate-pleadings approach for lesser-included offense analysis)
Ex Parte Watson, 306 S.W.3d 259 (Tex. Crim. App. 2009) (conceptual framework for lesser-included offenses)
Goad v. State, 354 S.W.3d 443 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) (evidentiary standard for giving a lesser-included offense instruction)
Sweed v. State, 351 S.W.3d 63 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) (any evidence supporting lesser offense suffices to warrant instruction)
Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625 (1980) (relevance to jury option to convict of greater offense or acquit)
Saunders v. State, 913 S.W.2d 564 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995) (harm when jury cannot convict a lesser-included offense or must choose greater offense)
Ovalle v. State, 13 S.W.3d 774 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000) (remand when charge error requires new trial)
Bignall v. State, 94 S.W.3d 31 (Tex. App.—Hou. [14th Dist.] 2002) (harm assessment in lesser-included offense scenarios)