Court Opinion

ID: 9864516
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 13:44:22.140858+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:15:24.533745
License: Public Domain

THE COURT.
In denying the petition for rehearing, although this point is not urged in the petition, we do not wish to be understood as approving that portion of the opinion dealing with the last instruction set forth in the opinion with reference to the defendant's testimony. It is unnecessary to determine in this case whether the defendant was entitled to an instruction that “When a defendant does take the stand he has a right to testify about any portion of his case, and no prejudice should be raised in the jurors’ minds against him because he does not testify about all instances concerning his case.” The instruction was properly refused because it infringes upon the province of the jury in the last clause reading as follows: “When a defendant takes the stand his testimony is not to be distrusted merely because he is the defendant; on the contrary, his testimony is to be weighed by you in the same light as the testimony of any other witness in the case.” (People v. Winters, 125 Cal. 325, 330 [57 Pac. 1067], and other cases cited in the concluding paragraph of the opinion of the district court of appeal. See, also, 8 Cal. Jur., sec. 394, p. 365, and cases cited.)