State v. Owens (Slip Opinion), 166 N.E.3d 1142

A five-year-old girl died from a traumatic brain injury after being beaten by Ursula Owens; Owens was charged with aggravated murder, felony murder (predicate: felonious assault), and child endangering.
Owens’s trial counsel requested a reckless-homicide instruction as a lesser included offense; the court gave that instruction only as to aggravated murder, not as to felony murder; counsel did not object to the omission.
The jury acquitted Owens of aggravated murder but convicted her of felony murder (based on felonious assault) and of reckless homicide as a lesser of aggravated murder.
Owens appealed, arguing the trial court erred by not instructing the jury that reckless homicide is a lesser included offense of felony murder.
Because Owens did not object at trial, the court reviewed for plain error and ultimately held that reckless homicide is not a lesser included offense of felony murder with a felonious-assault predicate; the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Owens)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Whether reckless homicide is a lesser included offense of felony murder (felonious-assault predicate)	Reckless homicide is lesser because the predicate's mens rea (knowingly) imports into felony murder, making recklessness a lesser culpable state	Felony-murder contains no mens rea element as to the victim’s death; reckless homicide requires recklessness as to death, so it cannot be a lesser included offense	Reckless homicide is not a lesser included offense of felony murder with a felonious-assault predicate; refusal to instruct was proper
Whether omission of the instruction is reviewable given no trial objection (preservation/plain error)	Trial court erred in failing to give the instruction	Defendant waived all but plain-error review by not objecting; no plain error occurred	Reviewed for plain error; none found

State v. Nolan, 25 N.E.3d 1016 (Ohio 2014) (characterized felony-murder as effectively strict liability)
State v. Fry, 926 N.E.2d 1239 (Ohio 2010) (R.C. 2903.02(B) contains no mens rea element as to death)
State v. Diar, 900 N.E.2d 565 (Ohio 2008) (failure to object to jury instruction waives all but plain error)
State v. Evans, 911 N.E.2d 889 (Ohio 2009) (framework for determining lesser included offenses by comparing statutory elements)
State v. Thomas, 533 N.E.2d 286 (Ohio 1988) (defendant entitled to lesser-included instruction when statutory elements require it)
State v. Trimble, 911 N.E.2d 422 (Ohio 2009) (discussed by concurrence regarding aggravated felony-murder and reckless homicide)