California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Hostia, H044841 (Cal. App. 2019):
"In a criminal case, a trial court has a duty to instruct the jury on ' " ' "the general principles of law relevant to the issues raised by the evidence." ' " ' " (People v. Estrada (1995) 11 Cal.4th 568, 574.) A trial court also has "the duty to screen out invalid
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theories of conviction, either by appropriate instruction or by not presenting them to the jury in the first place." (People v. Guiton (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1116, 1131.)
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