Is a defendant required to prove he had a motive to commit any of the charged crimes?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Flores, G049760 (Cal. App. 2015):

Finally, defendant contends the court erred by instructing the jury the People were not required to prove he had a motive to commit any of the charged crimes. (CALCRIM No. 370.) He argues the instruction conflicted with CALCRIM No. 1122's requirement that a defendant's conduct be motivated by an unnatural or abnormal sexual interest in the child in order to constitute child annoyance. Defendant cannot challenge the giving of the motive instruction, however, since he requested it below. (People v. Lucero (2000) 23 Cal.4th 692, 723.) Furthermore, the motive instruction expressly refers to "charged" crimes. The jury was instructed to pay careful attention to all the instructions and consider them together. Jurors are presumed to understand, correlate, and follow the court's instructions. (People v. Sanchez (2001) 26 Cal.4th 834, 852.)

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