Does a jury need to be instructed on unanimity as to the criminal course of conduct?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Avina, 14 Cal.App.4th 1303, 18 Cal.Rptr.2d 511 (Cal. App. 1993):

[14 Cal.App.4th 1313] Defendant argues a unanimity instruction should nonetheless have been given here because the "mixed specific testimony and generic testimony" would have allowed the jurors to disagree about which acts were committed. While the jurors might have disagreed about particular acts, there was no room here for disagreement about what criminal course of conduct, if any, defendant engaged in. In a prosecution for a course-of-conduct offense, where the evidence shows only a single course of conduct, the jury need not be instructed on a need for unanimity as to the conduct supporting the conviction. (People v. Vargas (1988) 204 Cal.App.3d 1455, 1464-1467, 251 Cal.Rptr. 904 [child abuse].)

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