Does a trial court have a sua sponte duty to instruct the jury on self-defense?

The cases on which defendant relies to support his claim that the trial court had a sua sponte duty to instruct on self-defense are distinguishable. In People v. Elize (1999) 71 Cal.App.4th 605, the prosecution presented evidence that the defendant was fighting with two women. When one hit him with a cell phone, the defendant pushed her away, pointed a gun at her and fired. The defendant testified that the two women attacked him with iron pipes. One grabbed his gun, and when he tried to point it away it fired accidentally. (Id. at pp. 608-609.) On appeal, the court held it was error to refuse the defendant's request to instruct the jury on self-defense; even though the defendant testified that his gun went off accidently, the jury could have disbelieved defendant's testimony that the firing was accidental and decided instead that defendant had fired intentionally in self-defense. (Id. at pp. 615-616.)

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