Does the trial court erred by failing to provide a jury with the following instruction on voluntary intoxication causing unconsciousness?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Sanchez, H040624 (Cal. App. 2015):

Sanchez also contends the trial court erred by not sua sponte instructing the jury with CALCRIM No. 626, the model instruction on voluntary intoxication causing unconsciousness. "When a person renders himself or herself unconscious through voluntary intoxication and kills in that state, the killing is attributed to his or her negligence in self-intoxicating to that point, and is treated as involuntary manslaughter." (People v. Ochoa (1998) 19 Cal.4th 353, 423.) CALCRIM No. 626 provides that a defendant is guilty of involuntary manslaughter if he or she (1) "killed without legal justification or excuse"; (2) "did not act with the intent to kill"; (3) "did not act with a conscious disregard for human life"; and (4) "[a]s a result of voluntary intoxication, . . . was not conscious of (his/her) actions or the nature of those actions." Sanchez contends evidence he had methamphetamine in his bloodstream at the time of the stabbing and witness descriptions of him as "blank" with "glazed over" eyes following the stabbing supported giving CALCRIM No. 626.

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