Does an instruction that the People have presented evidence of a crime direct the jury to find the crime existed?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Dunahoo, C079857 (Cal. App. 2017):

Contrary to defendant's contentions, a statement in an instruction that the People have presented evidence of a crime does not direct the jury to find the crime existed. (People v. Williams (2008) 161 Cal.App.4th 705, 709-710.) Moreover, the instruction continued: "You may consider this evidence only if the People have proved it by a preponderance of the evidence that the Defendant, in fact, committed the uncharged domestic violence." Accordingly, the trial court did leave it to the jury to determine

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whether the 2012 and 2014 incidents between I.C. and defendant were true and whether they constituted domestic violence.

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