Is there a sua sponte duty to instruct the jury that an honest but unreasonable belief that victim 2 consented warranted conviction of a lesser offence?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Allen, E059292 (Cal. App. 2015):

In sum, the trial court had no duty to instruct the jury that an honest but unreasonable belief that victim 2 consented warranted conviction of a lesser offense. That proposition is not well-established by authority, as would be required for us to find a sua sponte duty to instruct. (See People v. Michaels (2002) 28 Cal.4th 486, 530) More to the point, however, such an instruction would not be a correct statement of the law. (See People v. Prock (2014) 225 Cal.App.4th 812, 821 [trial court had no obligation to give proposed instruction that was not a correct statement of the law].) Defendant's claim of error is rejected.

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