Does the acquittal-first rule apply to a jury in a sexual assault case?

"Under the acquittal-first rule, a trial court may direct the order in which jury verdicts are returned by requiring an express acquittal on the charged crime before a verdict may be returned on a lesser included offense." ( People v. Bacon (2010) 50 Cal.4th 1082, 1110, 116 Cal.Rptr.3d 723, 240 P.3d 204.) We have observed that an acquittal-first instruction must not prohibit the jury from considering or deliberating on the lesser included offense before

[7 Cal.5th 328]