Does a court have a sua sponte duty to instruct on a defense?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Gonzales, G054927 (Cal. App. 2018):
A court has a sua sponte duty to instruct on a defense only if the defendant appeared to rely on the defense, or if substantial evidence supports the defense and it is not inconsistent with the defendant's theory of the case. (People v. Barton (1995) 12 Cal.4th 186, 195.) Here, defendant did not rely on a mistaken belief defense. Instead, defense counsel's closing argument attempted to persuade the jury that the evidence was
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