California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. McDonald, G054148 (Cal. App. 2019):
"'Instructions should be interpreted, if possible, so as to support the judgment rather than defeat it if they are reasonably susceptible to such interpretation.'" (People v. Ramos, supra, 163 Cal.App.4th at p. 1088.) The ultimate question is whether there is a reasonable likelihood the jury applied the instructions that were objected to in an impermissible manner. (People v. Hajek and Vo, supra, 58 Cal.4th at p. 1220.)
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