When will the court allow a jury to convict a defendant of corporal injury to his spouse if he accidently pushes his partner into the bedpost?

Over defense objection, the court refused to instruct on accident, which would have told the jury that defendant was not guilty of corporal injury to a spouse if he acted accidently. The trial court was correct because there was no evidence to support that instruction. (See People v. Salas (2006) 37 Cal.4th 967, 982.) Defendant's version of events was not that he accidently pushed T. into the bedpost. Rather, it was that he acted in self-defense in getting her to release her grip on him. And it was her actions of pulling the opposite way, releasing her grip, and "t[a]k[ing] her body" sideways into the bedpost that caused her own injuries. If this version of events was true, then as even the prosecutor conceded in closing argument, defendant would not be guilty of any crime.

Page 8

The judgment is affirmed.