People v. Roybal

In People v. Roybal (1998) 19 Cal.4th 481, the prosecutor, making an evidentiary objection to purported state of mind evidence, argued that the defendant was not unavailable. The trial court agreed, saying: " 'He is not unavailable at this juncture.' " (Id. at p. 514.) The Supreme Court rejected an argument that this comment constituted Griffin error, stating: "The comment was in the form of a legal objection, not a remark directed to the jury; it was not reasonably likely that jurors were misled into believing otherwise or that it would have increased the jury's inclination to treat the defendant's silence as an indication of his guilt." (Id. at p. 515.)