California Supreme And Appellate Court
Case Summaries
Criminal Law and Procedure
 

CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE
Criminal Law Case Summaries

■ People v. Chaffin, No. E046217

Introduction[1]

            Defendant Michael Houston Chaffin was prosecuted for criminal conduct occurring in 2005 and 2007.  A jury convicted defendant of four offenses:  one count of domestic battery (§ 243, subd. (e)(1)); one count of child endangerment (§ 273a, subd. (a)); and two counts of vandalism.  (§ 594, subd. (b)(1).)  The jury found defendant not guilty on count 5, brandishing a deadly weapon.  The court sentenced defendant to 48 months of probation, including 180 days in county jail.

      On appeal, defendant argues there was not sufficient evidence to support his conviction for child endangerment (count 3) and the court committed two kinds of instructional error (counts 1 and 3).  We reject his contentions and affirm the judgment.

■ HELD:

Conviction for child endangerment is affirmed where the court did not err in refusing to instruct the jury sua sponte on the meaning of the term "likely" in the child endangerment statute as the failure to give the jury the legal definition of the term was not prejudicial to defendant and could not have affected the verdict.
People v. Chaffin -E046217- 5/14/09 CA4/2
People v. Chaffin -E046217- 5/14/09 CA4/2-PDF

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