Does a court have to instruct the jury on the law of aiding and abetting liability of a defendant in a kidnapping case?

Even without a request, a trial court is obliged to instruct on " 'general principles of law that are commonly or closely and openly connected to the facts before the court and that are necessary for the jury's understanding of the case' " (People v. Prettyman, supra, 14 Cal.4th at p. 264), or put more concisely, on " ' general legal principles raised by the evidence and necessary for the jury's understanding of the case' " (id. at p. 265). In particular, instructions delineating an aiding and abetting theory of liability must be given when such derivative culpability "form[s] a part of the prosecution's theory of criminal liability and substantial evidence supports the theory." (Id. at pp. 266-267 [natural and probable consequences theory of aiding and abetting liability].)

As explained above, substantial evidence supported the theory defendant satisfied the asportation element of the kidnapping charge only indirectly, through his agreement to or intentional facilitation of his accomplice's movement of the victim. The prosecutor relied at least in part on such a complicity theory, arguing to the jury that defendant "was working with this other person [while] [t]he other person was driving." Accomplice liability for the kidnapping was thus a theory raised by the evidence and necessary for the jury's full understanding of the case; the court erred in not instructing on this theory. (People v. Prettyman, supra, 14 Cal.4th at p. 265.)