California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from The People v. Jaimes, H033620, No. CC765987 (Cal. App. 2011):
Indeed, even assuming for purposes of argument only that the court erred in failing to instruct on an element of burglary, the lack of any evidence to support a finding that defendant had an unconditional right to enter the girls' bedrooms or even to raise a reasonable doubt concerning whether he lacked an unconditional right would render the error harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. (See Neder v. United States (1999) 527 U.S. 1, 8-11 [standard of review for failure to instruct on an element of an offense].) Simply put, the undisputed evidence that defendant was an invited guest and was kicked out after being suspected of misconduct constitutes overwhelming evidence that he lacked an unconditional right to enter the girls' room for any purpose, including a felonious purpose. Given the lack of evidence to the contrary, no rational juror could have found otherwise.
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The judgment is affirmed.
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