What is the test for a charge of making a threat to kill under section 422 of the California Criminal Code?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Chagollan, B265571 (Cal. App. 2016):

" 'In reviewing the sufficiency of evidence . . . the question we ask is "whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." ' . . . 'In determining whether a reasonable trier of fact could have found defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, the appellate court "must . . . presume in support of the judgment the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence." ' . . . The same standard also applies in cases in which the prosecution relies primarily on circumstantial evidence. . . ." (People v. Young (2005) 34 Cal.4th 1149, 1175, citations omitted.) The reviewing court does not reweigh the evidence, evaluate the credibility of witnesses, or decide factual conflicts. (People v. Culver (1973) 10 Cal.3d 542, 548.)

"In order to prove a violation of section 422, the prosecution must establish all of the following: (1) that the defendant 'willfully threaten[ed] to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person,' (2) that the defendant made the threat 'with the specific intent that the statement . . . is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out,' (3) that the threat . . . was 'on its face and under the circumstances in which it [was] made, . . . so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the threat,' (4) that the threat actually caused the person threatened 'to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her immediate family's safety,' and (5) that the threatened person's fear was 'reasonabl[e]' under the circumstances." (People v. Toledo (2001) 26 Cal.4th 221, 227-228.)

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