Santiago

In the published portion of this opinion, we uphold the trial court’s use of Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions (2007-2008) CALCRIM No. 3550 when instructing the jury, concluding that this standardized instruction does not improperly direct minority jurors to give way to majority jurors or improperly tell the jury that all criminal cases must be decided at some point. The instruction contains none of the flaws determined to be objectionable in People v. Gainer (1977) 19 Cal.3d 835 [ 139 Cal.Rptr. 861 , 566 P.2d 997 ], which disapproved of the use of Allen-type instructions (Allen v. United States (1896) 164 U.S. 492 [ 41 L.Ed. 528 , 17 S.Ct. 154 ]) in California.

In the unpublished portion of the opinion, we reject appellant’s contention that the prosecutor impermissibly commented on appellant’s silence at trial in violation of Griffin v. California (1965) 380 U.S. 609 [ 14 L.Ed.2d 10 , 85 S.Ct. 12296 ] and conclude there is sufficient evidence to sustain the jury’s finding that appellant suffered a prior strike conviction.

PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL SUMMARIES

Appellant Pedro Santiago was convicted after a jury trial of possession of methamphetamine…