Cal.Sup.Ct.
S189786
The California Supreme Court reversed a decision of the court of appeal. The court held that where a 170-pound man claimed that he intended to jump onto a bed next to, and not on top of, a 26-pound toddler, if a jury disbelieved the claim of accident, construing the remaining evidence as supporting a verdict of only simple assault, rather than child abuse homicide, was so speculative as to preclude any obligation for the trial court to instruct, sua sponte, on the lesser offense of simple assault.
