Included Offense Law and Legal Definition
An included offense means an offense which is established by proof of the same or less than all of the facts, or a less culpable mental state, or both, than that which is required to establish the commission of the offense charged. In State v. Roberts, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 6887 (Ohio Ct. App. 1987), the court observed that “One offense may be included in another offense if: (a) the lesser offense is a crime of a lesser degree than the greater offense, (b) the greater offense cannot be committed without committing the lesser offense, and (c) an offender can commit the lesser offense without committing some element of the greater offense.”
