California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Kober, A144771 (Cal. App. 2016):
Even were it error to instruct the jury on the theory of murder by lying in wait, any error is harmless. "[I]nstruction on an unsupported theory is prejudicial only if that theory became the sole basis of the verdict of guilt; if the jury based its verdict on the valid ground, or on both the valid and the invalid ground, there would be no prejudice, for there would be a valid basis for the verdict. . . . [T]he appellate court should affirm the judgment unless a review of the entire record affirmatively demonstrates a reasonable probability that the jury in fact found the defendant guilty solely on the unsupported theory." (People v. Guiton (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1116, 1130.) This principle is founded on the recognition that "jurors are well equipped to analyze the evidence," making it unlikely
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that a " 'jury convicted on a ground that was not supported by adequate evidence when there existed alternative grounds for which the evidence was sufficient.' " (Griffin v. United States (1991) 502 U.S. 46, 59-60.)
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