California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Ratliff, 224 Cal.Rptr. 705, 41 Cal.3d 675, 715 P.2d 665 (Cal. 1986):
With respect to his attempted murder conviction, defendant observes that the jury was never instructed that a specific intent to kill was required, or that the implied malice instructions were inapplicable to the attempted murder charge. (See People v. Collie (1981) 30 Cal.3d 43, 62, 177 Cal.Rptr. 458, 634 P.2d 534; People v. Murtishaw (1981) 29 Cal.3d 733, 763-764, 175 Cal.Rptr. 738, 631 P.2d 446.) Indeed, the People concede that the trial court erred in instructing on implied malice in the context of attempted murder, but they argue that the error was harmless under the evidence in this case. We disagree.
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