California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Lema, H044128 (Cal. App. 2019):
A trial court "is under a general obligation to 'clear up any instructional confusion expressed by the jury,' but '[w]here . . . the original instructions are themselves full and complete, the court has discretion . . . to determine what additional explanations are sufficient to satisfy the jury's request for information.' [Citations.]" (People v. Dykes (2009) 46 Cal.4th 731, 802 (Dykes).) "When the trial court responds to a question from a deliberating jury with a generally correct and pertinent statement of the law, a party who believes the court's response should be modified or clarified must make a contemporaneous request to that effect; failure to object to the trial court's wording or to request clarification results in forfeiture of the claim on appeal. [Citations.]" (Ibid.)
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