delivered the opinion of the Court.
The defendant was convicted of attempted second degree kidnapping (1971 Perm. Supp., C.R.S. 1963, 40-2-101 and 40-3-302),
1
and of menacing by the use of a deadly weapon (1971 Perm. Supp., C.R.S. 1963, 40-3-206.)
2
The conviction was reversed by the Colorado Court of Appeals,
The People’s testimony was to the following effect. On the afternoon of September 10, 1973, the defendant drove to the residence of the female complaining witness. Upon requesting directions to a dairy farm, he was invited into the house. Once inside, the defendant grabbed her and held a knife to her throat. For several minutes she tried to convince him to release her, after which, at knife point, he forced.her outside and toward his truck. She then managed to escape. The defendant made no attempt to follow.
The defendant was arrested several days later and the complaining witness identified him as her assailant. After being advised of his Miranda rights, the defendant confessed, stating, however, that instead of a knife, he had used a spoon during the incident.
After an in camera hearing, the trial court denied the defendant’s motion to suppress the confession, finding that it was voluntary.
The court of appeals affirmed the trial court as to its finding of voluntariness, but reversed as plain error the failure of the court to give sua sponte an instruction on the weight to be given to the confession. The court of appeals also reversed the trial court in its refusal to give a requested instruction to the effect that false imprisonment was a lesser included offense of attempted second degree kidnapping.
1.
The circumstances surrounding the defendant’s confession are contained in the court of appeals’ opinion. These facts come from the testimony at the in camera hearing. On trial the testimony was without conflict that the defendant’s confession was voluntary. The facts, which might have raised a question as to voluntariness in the mind of the jury, were not before the jury, at trial and were confined solely to the in camera hearing.
II.
The court of appeals ruled that it was error for the trial court to refuse defendant’s requested instruction which stated that false imprisonment was a lesser included offense of attempted second degree kidnapping. A court need not instruct a jury on a lesser included offense unless, there is a rational basis, supported by the evidence, for acquitting the defendant of the greater offense charged and convicting him of the lesser included offense. Section 18-1-408(6), C.R.S. 1973;
People v.
Shannon,
The judgment is reversed and the cause returned to the court of appeals with directions to affirm the judgment of the district court.
Notes
Now sections 18-3-302 and 18-2-101, C.R.S. 1973.
Now section 18-3-206, C.R.S. 1973.
The defendant cites
People v.
Shearer,
