California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Roa, G044460 (Cal. App. 2012):
"'"[T]he correctness of jury instructions is to be determined from the entire charge of the court, not from a consideration of parts of an instruction or from a particular instruction."' [Citations.]" (People v. Musselwhite (1998) 17 Cal.4th 1216, 1248.) "There is no error in a trial court's failing or refusing to instruct on one matter, unless the remaining instructions, considered as a whole, fail to cover the material issues raised at
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trial. As long as the trial court has correctly instructed the jury on all matters pertinent to the case, there is no error. The failure to give an instruction on an essential issue, or the giving of erroneous instructions, may be cured if the essential material is covered by other correct instructions properly given. [Citations.]" (People v. Dieguez (2001) 89 Cal.App.4th 266, 277.) While it is the court's duty to give instructions on the general principles of law involved, it is the defendant's responsibility to request instructions that "pinpoint" a theory of the defense. (People v. Silva (2001) 25 Cal.4th 345, 371
Here the court gave the following instructions to the jury:
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