Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District / Feb 25, 2025
STATE OF MISSOURI, Plaintiff-Respondent v. KYLE A. BYINGTON, Defendant-Appellant
Kyle Byington was convicted of first-degree murder and abandonment of a corpse following a jury trial. On appeal, Byington argued the trial court erred by denying his request for a voluntary manslaughter instruction. The appellate court affirmed the conviction, declining plain error review. It held that voluntary manslaughter is not a nested lesser included offense of first- or second-degree murder, and the jury's conviction of the greater offense (first-degree murder) over the lesser (second-degree murder) demonstrated no prejudice from the omitted instruction.