Tag Archives: CC 571


Imperfect Self Defense Warranted When Defendant’s Account Is Not Totally Delusional
April 8th, 2022

In People v. Schuller (2021) 72 Cal.App.5th 221; 286 Cal. Rptr. 3d 309, 317-19 the Court of Appeal concluded that “the refusal to instruct on imperfect self-defense here was error. While defendant’s testimony included evidence of delusion, his account pertaining to the actual shooting was not entirely delusional and thus provided substantial evidence of an […]


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The Huge Impact of A Tiny Two-Letter Word
October 15th, 2020

In this March 10, 2020 post FORECITE discussed the CALCRIM instructions which define great bodily injury as a “significant or substantial physical injury … that is greater than minor or moderate harm.” The post suggested, in reliance on People v. Medellin (2020) 45 Cal.App.5th 519, 533- 535 that — as argued by the prosecutor in […]


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Imperfect SELF DEFENSE AND DELUSIONS
August 29th, 2016

A defendant who acts with the state of mind required for imperfect self-defense does not harbor express malice. “Two factors may preclude the formation of malice and reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter: heat of passion and unreasonable self-defense.” (People v. Elmore (2014) 59 Cal.4th 121, 133. California law allows the jury to consider a defendant’s […]


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Error to Instruct on Felony Murder, but Not Malice Murder, its Lesser Included Offenses, or the Defenses of Accident and Self-defense
August 8th, 2016

In People v. Gonzalez , District: 2 DCA , Division: 4 , Case #: B255375 the prosecutor charged appellants with malice murder but tried the case solely on a felony murder theory. The trial court did not instruct the jury on malice murder, its LIOs, or the defenses of accident and self-defense. “[U]nder the accusatory […]


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Is the Erroneous Failure to Instruct on Malice Murder Always Harmless Error When the Jury Finds the Defendant Guilty of First Degree Murder?
August 5th, 2016

People v. Campbell (2015) 233 CA4th 148, suggested that a jury’s guilty verdict on felony murder and its true finding on a robbery special circumstance allegation do not render the failure to instruct on LIOs of malice murder harmless under Watson: While in the present case we are not dealing with the failure to give […]


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CC Imperfect Self Defense Instruction: Error Identified By Court Of Appeal
June 22nd, 2015

  People v. Por Ye Heri (2009) 181 Cal. App. 4th 349, identified the following error in CC 571: “For killing to be in self-defense, the defendant must actually and reasonably believe in the need to defend. [Citation.] If the belief subjectively exists but is objectively unreasonable, there is imperfect self-defense. . .]Citation.] Where, as […]


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Voluntary Manslaughter: Defense Claims Rejected
January 10th, 2014

  In People v. Genovese (2008) 168 Cal. App. 4th 817, three challenges to CC 571 were rejected. First, the court rejected a claim that the voluntary manslaughter instructions were erroneous because they did not tell the jury the role that malice or lack of malice plays in reducing murder to voluntary manslaughter. Genovese rejected […]


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