People v. Taylor
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of evading a pursuing police officer while driving with a disregard for safety, as defined in Vehicle Code section 2800.2. On appeal, defendant argued that subdivision (b) of section 2800.2 established an improper mandatory presumption regarding the existence of the "willful or wanton disregard" required for the offense, and that the jury was improperly instructed with CALCRIM No. 2181 because it incorporated that purported presumption. The Court of Appeal held that section 2800.2 contained no such improper mandatory presumption, and there was no prejudicial instructional error. The court reasoned that, to the extent the jury instruction may have conveyed an excessively demanding understanding of the elements of the section 2800.2 offense, that feature of the instruction could not reasonably be regarded as prejudicial to defendant, because it only enhanced the quantum of proof required of the prosecution to establish his guilt.
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