Is a defendant's right to a jury verdict of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt denied when there is an instructional omission of an element of the crime?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Flood, 18 Cal.4th 470, 76 Cal.Rptr.2d 180, 957 P.2d 869 (Cal. 1998):
So too, as in this cause, a defendant's "right to a jury verdict of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt" (Sullivan v. Louisiana, supra, 508 U.S. at p. 281, 113 S.Ct. 2078) as to a crime is denied when there is an instructional omission of an element of the crime: There is then no jury verdict that the defendant is guilty of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
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