California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Pascual, D074100 (Cal. App. 2019):
evidence that the appellant could reasonably be expected to have that knowledge." (People v. Cortez (2016) 63 Cal.4th 101, 117.) "Even if the defendant's testimony conflicts with other evidence or may be characterized as improbable, incredible, unbelievable, or bizarre, it is not . . . 'the functional equivalent of no explanation at all.'" (Ibid.) "[T]he focus of CALCRIM No. 361, as its language indicates, is not on the defendant's credibility as a witness, but on the role of a testifying defendant's failure to explain or deny incriminating evidence in how jurors 'evaluat[e] that evidence,' i.e., the evidence the defendant has failed to explain or deny." (Id. at p. 118.)
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