Are instructions to the jury in a state criminal trial that merely omit a proper description of the requirement of proof of every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Flood, 18 Cal.4th 470, 76 Cal.Rptr.2d 180, 957 P.2d 869 (Cal. 1998):

Furthermore, instructions to the jury in a state criminal trial that merely omit a proper description of the requirement of proof of every element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt are themselves erroneous under the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause incorporating the Fifth and Sixth [18 Cal.4th 524] Amendments. (Sullivan v. Louisiana, supra, 508 U.S. at pp. 277-278, 113 S.Ct. 2078.)

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