California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. King, C076545 (Cal. App. 2015):
Moreover, the trial court instructed the jury that not all of the instructions were applicable, depending on its findings about the facts of the case. The prosecutor emphasized the trial court's instruction that not all instructions would necessarily apply. We presume the jury would follow the instructions and disregard the pretextual self-defense instruction if it did not find the facts supported it. (See People v. Sanchez (2001) 26 Cal.4th 834, 852.) It did not, as defendant contends, impair the other self-defense instructions, which required the People to disprove both the perfect and imperfect self-defense theories. (See People v. Olguin (1994) 31 Cal.App.4th 1355, 1381 [construing similar instruction, but rejecting claim that it "might have kept the jury from evaluating [the] self-defense claim"].) This instruction did not negate or weaken those instructions, nor did the prosecutor's argument.
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