March 2020 Revisions
March 31st, 2020

In November 2019 CALCRIM published proposed revisions in an Invitation to comment by December 20, 2019. The proposed revisions were to be effective March 24, 2020 after their approval by the Judicial Council at their meeting on that date. However, the Chief Justice cancelled the meeting while stating that “[a]ny pressing business of the Judicial Council can be postponed or accomplished by circulating order via email.” (See https://newsroom.courts.ca.gov/news/releases-20200323.)

 

It is unclear whether the jury instruction meeting was rescheduled or if the revisions were approved by “circulating order.” A September 2020 order stated, regarding ” Relevant Previous Council Action” that: “The council approved the last CALCRIM release at its April 2020 meeting.” (See, https://jcc.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8755704&GUID=F349DB84-EFEB-4BED-91C2-9EBF1DBCA91B

 

However, there is no record of an April 2020 meeting during which jury instruction revisions were approved.

(See https://jcc.legistar.com/Calendar.aspxhttps://jcc.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.)

 

Typically, a record of meetings where instruction revisions were approved can be found on the Council’s website with a full agenda attached. Nor is there any record of the disposition of public comments received in response to the November/December 2020 Invitation to Comment.

 

Furthermore, every proposed change from the Invitation to Comment was incorporated into the published instructions verbatim. This suggests that the normal process of revising and tweaking the proposed changes in light of public input may not have occurred. [There does appear to be one typo in CC 703 which contains the following incomplete passage which was not in the proposed changes: “[• Did the present during the <insert underlying felony>?]”

 

Here is a list of the changes the instructions that were revised in April 2020. A copy of the Invitation to Comment can be found here:

 

https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/calcrim-2019-02.pdf

 

 

Instruction Number Instruction Title
 

(N/A)

 

User Guide

 

101 & 200

 

Cautionary Admonitions

 

334

 

Accomplice Testimony

 

361

 

Failure to Explain or Deny Adverse Testimony

 

377

 

Presence of Support Person/Dog

 

507

 

Justifiable Homicide: By Public Officer

 

540B & 540C

 

Accomplice Liability Felony Murder

 

548

 

Murder: Alternative Theories

 

594

 

Vehicular Manslaughter: Collision for Financial Gain

 

600

 

Attempted Murder

 

703

 

Special Circumstances: Felony Murder

 

850

Testimony on Intimate Partner Battering and Its Effects; Testimony on Rape Trauma; Testimony on Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome
 

860

 

Assault with Weapon or Force Likely

 

1045-1051

 

Sexual Penetration offenses