In what circumstances will a defendant be charged with leaving the scene of a crime to avoid being observed or arrested?

In People v. Crandell, supra, 46 Cal.3d 833, the defendant was charged with two murders. (Id. at pp. 847-848.) At trial, the uncontradicted evidence established that the defendant left the crime scene to accomplish specific tasks, intended to return to dispose of the bodies, and was arrested as he drove back to the scene of the crime. (Id. at pp. 869-870.) The court concluded that a flight instruction had been given improperly because there was no evidence on which the jury reasonably could infer that the defendant left the crime scene to avoid being observed or arrested. (Id. at p. 869.)

In People v. Watson, supra, 75 Cal.App.3d 384, there was no evidence that the defendant left the scene immediately upon completion of his crime. The victim was murdered, and there were no witnesses to the defendant's activities after the murder. As the court explained, the mere fact of the defendant's arrest nearly two days later and miles away from the crime scene is not evidence of flight. (Id. at p. 403.)