Section 3456 | CALCRIM (Jury Instructions)

AUTHORITY
•
Elements and Definitions. Pen. Code, §§ 2962, 2966(b); People v. Merfield
(2007) 147 Cal.App.4th 1071, 1075, fn. 2 [54 Cal.Rptr.3d 834].
•
Unanimous Verdict, Burden of Proof. Pen. Code, § 2966(b); Conservatorship of
Roulet (1979) 23 Cal.3d 219, 235 [152 Cal.Rptr. 425, 590 P.2d 1] [discussing
conservatorship proceedings under the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act and civil
commitment proceedings in general].
•
Institutions That May Fulfill the 90-Day Treatment Requirement. Pen. Code,
§ 2981.
•
Treatment Must Be for Serious Mental Disorder Only. People v. Sheek (2004)
122 Cal.App.4th 1606, 1611 [19 Cal.Rptr.3d 737].
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Definition of Remission. Pen. Code, § 2962(a).
•
Need for Treatment Established by One Enumerated Act. People v. Burroughs
(2005) 131 Cal.App.4th 1401, 1407 [32 Cal.Rptr.3d 729].
•
Evidence of Later Improvement Not Relevant. Pen. Code, § 2966(b); People v.
Tate (1994) 29 Cal.App.4th 1678, 1683 [35 Cal.Rptr.2d 250].
•
Board of Parole Hearings. Pen. Code, § 5075.
•
This Instruction Cited As Authority With Implicit Approval. People v. Harrison
(2013) 57 Cal.4th 1211, 1230 [164 Cal.Rptr.3d 167, 312 P.3d 88].
•
Proof of Recent Overt Act Not Required. Pen. Code, § 2962(g).
•
90-Day Treatment Period Includes Extension Under Pen. Code, § 2963. People v.
Parker (2020) 44 Cal.App.5th 286, 289 [257 Cal.Rptr.3d 493].
SECONDARY SOURCES
3 Witkin & Epstein, California Criminal Law (4th ed. 2012) Punishment,
§§ 763–767.
DEFENSES AND INSANITY
CALCRIM No. 3456
1047

acted as a reasonable person would in following the treatment plan.]
[A substantial danger of physical harm does not require proof of a recent
overt act.]
You will receive [a] verdict form[s] on which to indicate your finding of
whether the allegation that
<insert name of respondent> is
an offender with a mental health disorder is true or not true. To find the
allegation true or not true, all of you must agree. You may not find it to
be true unless all of you agree the People have proved it beyond a
reasonable doubt.
New December 2008; Revised September 2017, September 2020, September 2022
BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
The court has a sua sponte duty to instruct the jury about the basis for a finding
that a respondent is an offender with a mental health disorder.
Give this instruction for a successive commitment. For an initial commitment as a
condition of parole, give CALCRIM No. 3456, Initial Commitment of Offender With
A Mental Health Disorder as Condition of Parole.
The court also must give CALCRIM No. 219, Reasonable Doubt in Civil
Proceedings, CALCRIM No. 222, Evidence, CALCRIM No. 226, Witnesses,
CALCRIM No. 3550, Pre-Deliberation Instructions, and any other relevant post-
trial instructions. These instructions may need to be modified.
Give the bracketed language in the sentence beginning with “To prove this
allegation” and use the past tense for an on-parole recommitment pursuant to Penal
Code section 2966. For a recommitment after the parole period pursuant to Penal
Code sections 2970