People v. Johnson

INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant Clifford Johnson (defendant) stabbed a motel employee who was attempting to eject defendant from motel property. Defendant argued at trial that the employee used excessive force when attempting to eject defendant and that defendant stabbed the employee in self-defense. A jury convicted defendant of one count of assault with a deadly weapon. (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1).)

On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court erred by refusing to give defendant’s proposed jury instruction—derived from CALCRIM No. 3475— that force is permitted to eject a trespasser only if the trespasser is likely to injure the property or an occupant. Defendant also contends that the trial court should have instructed the jury sua sponte with CALCRIM No. 3471, which addresses whether a defendant who engaged in mutual combat or was the initial aggressor had a right of reasonable self-defense.

We conclude that defendant’s proposed instruction based on CALCRIM No. 3475 was irrelevant to the jury’s consideration of whether defendant acted in reasonable self-defense. We further conclude that, because CALCRIM No. 3471 concerns the preliminary factual…