California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Jordan, D064010 (Cal. App. 2016):
An instructional error is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt if " '[t]he factual question posed by the omitted instruction was necessarily resolved adversely to defendant under other, properly given instructions.' " (People v. Pulido (1997) 15 Cal.4th 713, 726.) Here, as we will explain, the jury was instructed on the escape rule under two other instructions and necessarily made findings on the escape rule adverse to the defendants in connection with those instructions. Based on those findings, we can safely conclude that the jury determined the defendants had not reached a place of temporary safety before the killing.
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