Matthews

*794 A trial court in a criminal case is charged with properly instructing the jury on the elements of all crimes and enhancements. ( People v. Tidwell (1970) 3 Cal.3d 82 , 87, 89 Cal.Rptr. 58 , 473 P.2d 762 .) Does the trial court violate its duty to instruct-and potentially entitle the defendant to a retrial-if the court (1) tells the jury that the People have to prove an element that the law does not require, and (2) fails to properly define that element? We conclude that a mistake pertaining to a superfluous element does not constitute instructional error. In light of this conclusion, as well as our determinations that the trial court did not otherwise commit instructional error and that the prosecution did not commit misconduct, we affirm the murder conviction in this case. We nevertheless conclude that there are several sentencing errors that must be corrected, and remand for the trial court to consider whether the defendant has the ability to pay a restitution fine.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. Facts

A. The crime itself

On December 3, 1978, 20-year-old Leslie Long (Long) was working at a full-service gas station in Palmdale, California. Long was a mother of three,…