What is the difference between a district attorney's instruction to a jury in a sexual assault case and the general burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Hunter, A130641 (Cal. App. 2011):

The Attorney General asserts that the instruction proposed by the district attorney "properly pinpointed the theory of the defense" and merely "charged the jury on how to relate the evidence of that defense to the prosecution's general burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." This is a strange statement. It is true that a trial court may in appropriate circumstances give a requested jury instruction that pinpoints a defense theory of the case by, among other things, relating the reasonable doubt standard of proof to particular elements of the crime charged. (See, e.g., People v. Bolden (2002)

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