Court Opinion

ID: 9725375
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:43:48.039672+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:12:07.349786
License: Public Domain

WHITE, P. J.
I concur with that portion of the judgment which holds there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction for aggravated mayhem. However, I dissent to the holding that the failure to instruct pursuant to CALJIC No. 2.02 was nonprejudicial.
If proof of specific intent to inflict great bodily injury rests on circumstantial evidence, the jury must be instructed pursuant to CALJIC No. 2.02. (People v. Salas (1976) 58 Cal.App.3d 460, 474 [129 Cal.Rptr. 871]; Com. to CALJIC No. 2.02 (5th ed. 1988) p. 26.) Consideration of the instructions as a whole does not cure the omission of CALJIC No. 2.02 in this case.
In the instant action it is difficult to understand defendant’s aberrant behavior. The victim could not explain why defendant assaulted him; nor is it clear whether defendant’s conduct resulted from intoxication. The mere fact that somebody punches or kicks another, without more, is insufficient to warrant a finding that the assailant harbored the specific intent to inflict great bodily injury. As the Attorney General acknowledges, defendant’s query in Cantonese, “Are you dying?,” was subject to various translations, including “Are you dead yet?” and “Are you okay?”
During deliberations the jury indicated they were having difficulty with the specific intent analysis. After one day of deliberation the jury asked for clarification of the instruction on specific intent to find somebody guilty of burglary. The trial court instructed that they had to have specific intent beyond a reasonable doubt, but limited the instruction to the specific intent to commit larceny necessary for a burglary conviction. One juror then noted: “We have read over several pages again and again and we are having a little bit of difficulty with when specific intent begins.” After the judge stated that he could not further clarify the point, another juror asked: “How do you find intentions?” The question was not answered. The jury returned to deliberate and 10 minutes later returned their verdicts that defendant was guilty of aggravated mayhem, mayhem, intent to commit great bodily injury, but not burglary.
Although the jury’s inquiry regarding specific intent was limited to the burglary charge, it is clear from the above the jurors were having difficulty *330with the concept of specific intent generally. They were unable to find specific intent for the burglary charge; yet they found specific intent to commit aggravated mayhem when, as we have decided, there was neither direct nor circumstantial evidence to support such a finding. I am therefore unpersuaded by that too-oft employed bromide that failure to give a correct instruction may be cured by viewing the instructions as a whole. Under the circumstances of this case it cannot be said the jury would have not rendered a more favorable verdict on the great bodily injury allegation had they been properly instructed. (People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818, 836 [299 P.2d 243].)
A petition for a rehearing was denied June 13, 1990.