CALJIC 2.11 - Example Case

In People v. Simms (1970) 10 Cal. App. 3d 299, the court approved an analogous instruction (CALJIC No. 2.11) on all available evidence as a "correct statement of law." (Simms, at p. 313) CALJIC No. 2.11 read: "Neither side is required to call as witness all persons who may have been present at any of the events disclosed by the evidence . . . . Neither side is required to produce all objects or documents mentioned or suggested by the evidence." (CALJIC No. 2.11 (7th ed. 2003) The similar objection was made that the instruction could have led the jury to infer the burden of proof was to be shared by the People and the defendant. The Simms court said: "This contention is unsupported by any authority and we therefore are entitled to reject it on this ground. We observe, moreover, that the instruction is a correct statement of law and that it was proper to instruct. " (Simms, supra, 10 Cal.App.3d at p. 313.)