California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Tufunga, 65 Cal.App.4th 287, 76 Cal.Rptr.2d 521 (Cal. App. 1998):
Generally, of course, a party is not entitled to an instruction on a theory for which there is no supporting evidence. (People v. Memro (1995) 11 Cal.4th 786, 868, 47 Cal.Rptr.2d 219, 905 P.2d 1305.) In our context, "[A] trial court is not required to instruct on a claim-of-right defense unless there is evidence to support an inference that [the defendant] acted with a subjective belief he or she had a lawful claim on the property." (People v. Romo (1990) 220 Cal.App.3d 514, 519, 269 Cal.Rptr. 440, emphasis omitted.)
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