Hudson

*1006 Opinion

A conviction of any of the offenses involving fleeing from a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle requires, among other things, that the officer’s vehicle be “distinctively marked.” (Veh. Code, §§ 2800.1, subd. (a), 2800.2, subd. (a), 2800.3, subd. (a).) We granted review in this case to address two issues. First, what factors should be considered in determining whether a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle is “distinctively marked”? Second, must a trial court on its own initiative define that statutory phrase?

We conclude that a peace officer’s vehicle is distinctively marked if its outward appearance during the pursuit exhibits, in addition to a red light and a siren, one or more features that are reasonably visible to other drivers and distinguish it from vehicles not used for law enforcement so as to give reasonable notice to the person being pursued that the pursuit is by the police. We further conclude that a trial court must, on its own initiative, instruct the jury that the statutory phrase “distinctively marked” requires that, in addition to the red light and siren, the peace officer’s vehicle must have features that distinguish it from vehicles not…

The majority reverses defendant’s conviction for evading a police officer because the trial court failed to instruct the jury, sua sponte, that it could not consider that the police vehicle was equipped *1015 with a red light and siren in determining whether the vehicle was “distinctively marked” as required by Vehicle Code section 2800.2, subdivision (a). 1 I do not agree that the trial court erred. In my view the trial court was not required to instruct the jury on the meaning of the term “distinctively marked” because that term is in common parlance and was easily understood by the jury, and the jury properly could consider that the police vehicle was equipped with a red light and siren in determining whether it was “distinctively marked.”

On the night of January 4, 2002, Los Angeles Police Officers Andrew Buesa and Richard Ludwig were on patrol in a gray Ford Crown Victoria “dual purpose” police vehicle equipped with a forward facing red light under the interior rearview mirror, a “blue amber blinking light in the back,” and a siren. Ford Crown Victorias are the same make and model of automobile used for some black-and-white police cruisers. The officers turned a comer and…

A conviction of any of the offenses involving fleeing from a pursuing peace officer's motor vehicle requires, among other things, that the officer's vehicle be "distinctively marked." (Veh.Code, §§ 2800.1, subd. (a), 2800.2, subd. (a), 2800.3, subd. (a).) We granted review in this case to address two issues. First, what factors should be considered in determining whether a pursuing peace officer's motor vehicle is "distinctively marked"? Second, must a trial court on its own initiative define that statutory phrase?

We conclude that a peace officer's vehicle is distinctively marked if its outward appearance during the pursuit exhibits, in addition to a red light and a siren, one or more features that are reasonably visible to other drivers and distinguish it from vehicles not used for law enforcement so as to give reasonable notice to the person being pursued that the pursuit is by the police. We further conclude that a trial court must, on its own initiative, instruct the jury that the statutory phrase "distinctively marked" requires that, in addition to the red light and siren, the peace officer's vehicle must have features that distinguish it from vehicles not used…