What is the meaning of the word "distrust" in the context of a jury's consideration of witness testimony in a sexual assault case?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Guiuan, 18 Cal.4th 558, 76 Cal.Rptr.2d 239, 957 P.2d 928 (Cal. 1998):

The choice of the word "distrust" reflects not only statutory precedent but also careful judicial reflection on the precise degree of skepticism with which a jury ought to regard accomplice testimony. This court has explained that the words "caution" and "distrust" are "quite different," that "caution" requires only "care and watchfulness" whereas "distrust" has "meanings ranging from doubt and suspicion to lack of confidence," and that, accordingly, "[a] jury's estimate of evidence which it was directed to view 'with caution' might, and ordinarily would, be quite different from the effect which it would give to the same evidence considered 'with distrust.' " (People v. Hamilton (1948) 33 Cal.2d 45, 51, 198 P.2d 873.)

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