Opinion ID: 2614001
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: CALJIC instructions on circumstantial evidence

Text: (29) Defendant also contends that four other instructions provided in the present case undermined the constitutional requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. In these instructions, which pertained to the sufficiency of circumstantial evidence to prove (1) the charged offenses (CALJIC No. 2.01), (2) the required mental state (CALJIC No. 2.02), (3) the special circumstance allegations (CALJIC No. 8.83), and (4) the required mental state as to the special circumstance allegations (CALJIC No. 8.83.1), the trial court informed the jury that, if one interpretation of the evidence appears to you to be reasonable and the other interpretation to be unreasonable, you must accept the reasonable interpretation and reject the unreasonable. Specifically, defendant urges that, by informing the jurors of their duty to accept an interpretation of the evidence establishing defendant's guilt as long as that interpretation appears to be reasonable, the instructions (emphasized by the prosecutor's argument to the jury that the prosecution had presented a reasonable interpretation of the evidence) permitted the jury to determine guilt based upon a degree of proof less than that mandated by the reasonable doubt standard (see In re Winship (1970) 397 U.S. 358, 364 [25 L.Ed.2d 368, 375, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 1072]; see also Cage v. Louisiana (1990) 498 U.S. 39 [112 L.Ed.2d 339, 111 S.Ct. 328].) Defendant urges that the instructions thus functioned to convey an unconstitutional, mandatory, conclusive presumption of guilt. (See Carella v. California (1989) 491 U.S. 263, 265-266 [105 L.Ed.2d 218, 221-222, 109 S.Ct. 2419]; Sandstrom v. Montana (1979) 442 U.S. 510, 515 [61 L.Ed.2d 39, 45-46, 99 S.Ct. 2450].) We repeatedly have rejected analogous contentions. ( People v. Noguera (1993) 4 Cal.4th 599, 633-634 [15 Cal. Rptr.2d 400, 842 P.2d 1160], People v. Johnson (1992) 3 Cal.4th 1183, 1234-1235 [14 Cal. Rptr.2d 702, 842 P.2d 1]; People v. Wilson, supra, 3 Cal.4th 926, 942-943; People v. Jennings (1991) 53 Cal.3d 334, 385-386 [279 Cal. Rptr. 780, 807 P.2d 1009].) When the questioned phrase is read in context, not only with the remaining language within each instruction but also together with related instructions, including the reasonable doubt instruction, it is clear that the jury was required only to reject unreasonable interpretations of the evidence and to accept a reasonable interpretation that was consistent with the evidence. ( People v. Jennings, supra, 53 Cal.3d 334, 386.)