California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Bitson, B275154, B280417 (Cal. App. 2018):
Jurors are not required to decide unanimously whether a defendant was a direct perpetrator or an aider and abettor. (People v. Wilson (2008) 44 Cal.4th 758, 801.) In Culuko, supra, 78 Cal.App.4th 307, the court held that a trial court does not err in instructing jurors that there is no unanimity requirement concerning whether the defendant was a perpetrator or an accomplice. Even if jurors could not decide whether a defendant was the perpetrator or an aider and abettor "it would be 'absurd . . . to let the defendant go free because each individual juror had a reasonable doubt as to [her] exact role.' " (Id. at p. 323.) Bitson demonstrates no error.
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