What is the test for a jury to interpret a jury instruction?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Gaines, H043645 (Cal. App. 2018):

" ' "[J]urors are presumed to be intelligent and capable of understanding and applying the court's instructions." [Citation.]' [Citation.] ' " 'A defendant challenging an instruction as being subject to erroneous interpretation by the jury must demonstrate a reasonable likelihood that the jury understood the instruction in the way asserted by the defendant. [Citations.]' [Citation.] ' "[T]he correctness of jury instructions is to be determined from the entire charge of the court, not from a consideration of parts of an instruction or from a particular instruction." ' " [Citation.]' [Citation.]" (People v. Covarrubias (2016) 1 Cal.5th 838, 905 (Covarrubias).)

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