Section 416 | CALCRIM (Jury Instructions)

that is done to help accomplish the agreed upon crime. The overt act
must happen after the defendant has agreed to commit the crime. The
overt act must be more than the act of agreeing or planning to commit
the crime, but it does not have to be a criminal act itself.
[You must all agree that at least one overt act was committed in
California by at least one alleged member of the conspiracy, but you do
not have to all agree on which specific overt act or acts were committed
or who committed the overt act or acts.]
[You must decide as to each defendant whether he or she was a member
of the alleged conspiracy.]
[The People contend that the defendant[s] conspired to commit one of
the following crimes:
<insert alleged crime[s]>. You may
not find (the/a) defendant guilty under a conspiracy theory unless all of
you agree that the People have proved that the defendant conspired to
commit at least one of these crimes, and you all agree which crime (he/
she) conspired to commit.] [You must also all agree on the degree of the
crime.]
[A member of a conspiracy does not have to personally know the identity
or roles of all the other members.]
[Someone who merely accompanies or associates with members of a
conspiracy but who does not intend to commit the crime is not a
member of the conspiracy.]
[Evidence that a person did an act or made a statement that helped
accomplish the goal of the conspiracy is not enough, by itself, to prove
that the person was a member of the conspiracy.]
New January 2006; Revised August 2006, August 2016
BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
The court has a sua sponte duty to give this instruction when the prosecution has
not charged the crime of conspiracy but has introduced evidence of a conspiracy to
prove liability for other offenses or to introduce hearsay statements of
coconspirators. (See, e.g., People v. Pike (1962) 58 Cal.2d 70, 88 [22 Cal.Rptr. 664,
372 P.2d 656]; People v. Ditson (1962) 57 Cal.2d 415, 447 [20 Cal.Rptr. 165, 369
P.2d 714].)
The court has a sua sponte duty to instruct on the elements of the offense alleged to
be the target of the conspiracy. (People v. Cortez (1998) 18 Cal.4th 1223,
1238–1239 [77 Cal.Rptr.2d 733, 960 P.2d 537]; People v. Fenenbock (1996) 46
Cal.App.4th 1688, 1706 [54 Cal.Rptr.2d 608].) Give all appropriate instructions
defining the elements of the offense or offenses alleged as targets of the conspiracy.
CALCRIM No. 416
AIDING AND ABETTING
184

(1963) 220 Cal.App.2d 291, 294 [33 Cal.Rptr. 794].) The court has a sua sponte
duty to also give CALCRIM No. 416, Evidence of Uncharged Conspiracy.
The statute uses the term “injure.” (Veh. Code, § 10852.) The committee has
replaced the word “injure” with the word “damage” because the word “injure”
generally refers to harm to a person rather than to property.
Give the bracketed definition of vehicle on request.
AUTHORITY
•
Elements. Veh. Code, § 10852.
•
Willfully Defined. Pen. Code, § 7(1); People v. Lara (1996) 44 Cal.App.4th 102,
107 [51 Cal.Rptr.2d 402].
•
Veh