Murillo

Manuel Murillo challenges his robbery conviction, raising evidentiary and instructional issues. In the published portion of this opinion, we conclude the trial court erred in failing to read the jury an instruction the court had agreed to give. We find the instruction’s omission was harmless, but suggest a way to avoid this type of error in the future. In the unpublished portion of the opinion, we conclude the trial court was within its discretion in limiting the scope of closing argument, but erred in excluding evidence of a prosecution witness’s prior inconsistent statement. These errors were harmless in the circumstances of this case. We therefore affirm the judgment of conviction.

Factual and Procedural Summary

After midnight on January 19, 1995, Lawrence Edwards was robbed at gunpoint. At a police show-up (an in-the-street lineup) later that morning, Edwards identified appellant Murillo as one of his assailants.

Murillo was charged by information with second degree robbery (Pen. Code, § 211), with an allegation of firearm use (Pen. Code, § 12022.5, subd. (a)).

The only prosecution witness was the victim, Edwards. He testified that a group of men accosted him as…