California Law (Last Updated: March 4, 2014) |
Penal Code - PEN |
Part 2. OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE |
Title 7. OF PROCEEDINGS AFTER THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE TRIAL AND BEFORE JUDGMENT |
Chapter 2. The Trial |
Section 1127c.
Latest version.
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In any criminal trial or proceeding where evidence of flight of a defendant is relied upon as tending to show guilt, the court shall instruct the jury substantially as follows:
The flight of a person immediately after the commission of a crime, or after he is accused of a crime that has been committed, is not sufficient in itself to establish his guilt, but is a fact which, if proved, the jury may consider in deciding his guilt or innocence. The weight to which such circumstance is entitled is a matter for the jury to determine.
No further instruction on the subject of flight need be given.
(Added by Stats. 1929, Ch. 875.)