California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Ruelas, H042776 (Cal. App. 2017):
Anticipating the Attorney General's argument that he forfeited this claim by failing to object, defendant asserts that he may raise the claim on appeal because it affected his substantial rights. (See 1259 [an appellate court may "review any instruction given, refused or modified, even though no objection was made thereto in the lower court, if the substantial rights of the defendant were affected thereby"]; People v. Cage (2015) 62 Cal.4th 256, 285 [addressing challenges to flight instruction despite lack of objection].) Alternatively, defendant contends his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to lodge an objection to the instruction.
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