How have courts interpreted unanimity instruction in cases where a defendant was convicted of resisting a peace officer?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Custodio, A130784 (Cal. App. 2013):

For example, in People v. Lopez (2005) 129 Cal.App.4th 1508, the defendant was convicted of resisting a peace officer after he failed to comply with an officer's order to turn and put his hands behind his back, then struggled as various combinations of officers grabbed his arms, took him to the ground, subdued him enough to handcuff him and dragged him to the patrol car. On appeal, the defendant argued the trial court erred in failing to give a unanimity instruction because some jurors could have based their conclusions on his conduct toward one officer and others based their conclusions on his conduct toward a different officer. Lopez found no error, citing the rules that no unanimity instruction is required when multiple offenses are so closely connected in time as to be part of a single transaction and when a prosecutor elects to rely upon multiple acts in a continuous course of conduct as a single crime, and finding no evidentiary basis

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