People v. Guiuan

¶1“A skeptical approach to accomplice testimony is a mark of the fair administration of justice. From Crown political prosecutions, and before, to recent prison camp inquisitions, a long history of human frailty and governmental overreaching for conviction justifies distrust in accomplice testimony.” (Phelps v. United States (5th Cir. 1958) 252 F.2d 49, 52.)

¶2I join that portion of the majority opinion holding that the trial court committed no instructional error in this case. Further, I agree with the majority that this court should not abrogate the long-established rule that trial courts, on their own initiative, must warn juries that the testimony of accomplices who testify on behalf of the prosecution is inherently unreliable, and I also agree that the pattern instruction currently used to convey this warning should be modified so that it may be used when both the prosecution and the defense have elicited and are relying on testimony given by an accomplice.

¶3I disagree, however, with the wording of the proposed modification. Unlike the majority, I would advise jurors of the reasons why accomplice testimony should be viewed skeptically, because jurors will understand the warning better, and will be less apt to give accomplice testimony either more *571or less weight than it deserves, if they understand the reasons why accomplice testimony may be inherently suspect. Finally, I would not remove from the cautionary instruction the word “distrust,” which is amply justified by logic and precedent, although I would confine that word to its appropriate context—testimony favorable to the prosecution’s case that may be influenced by the accomplice’s desire for, or expectation of, benefits such as immunity from prosecution or leniency in charging or sentencing.

¶4The pattern cautionary instruction on accomplice testimony currently used in our state trial courts is this: “You should view the testimony of an accomplice with distrust. This does not mean that you may arbitrarily disregard that testimony. You should give that testimony the weight you think it deserves after examining it with care and caution and in the light of all the evidence in the case.” (CALJIC No. 3.18 (6th ed. 1996).) In its place, the majority directs trial courts to give this instruction: “ ‘To the extent an accomplice gives testimony that tends to incriminate the defendant, it should be viewed with caution. This does not mean, however, that you may arbitrarily disregard that testimony. You should give that testimony the weight you think it deserves after examining it with care and caution and in the light of all the evidence in the case.’ ” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 569.)

¶5Neither instmction tells the jury why accomplice testimony should be evaluated with greater care and skepticism than the testimony of other witnesses. By contrast, the cautionary instruction for testimony by an in-custody informant does explain the reason for the warning: “ ‘The testimony of an in-custody informant should be viewed with caution and close scrutiny. In evaluating such testimony, you should consider the extent to which it may have been influenced by the receipt of, or expectation of, any benefits from the party calling that witness. This does not mean that you may arbitrarily disregard such testimony, but you should give it the weight to which you find it to be entitled in the light of all the evidence in the case.’ ” (Pen. Code, § 1127a, subd. (b), italics added.) A cautionary instruction is more helpful and more effective if it states the reasons why special caution is warranted.

¶6There are several reasons why jurors should view accomplice testimony with particular suspicion or skepticism.

¶7The first reason for viewing accomplice testimony skeptically is that accomplices—because they are, by definition, persons who are liable to prosecution for the same offense with which the defendant is charged (Pen. Code, § 1111)—have a powerful built-in motive to aid the prosecution in convicting a defendant, regardless of the defendant’s actual guilt or level of culpability, in the hope or expectation that the prosecution will reward the *572accomplices’ assistance with immunity or leniency. In other words, “[a] person arrested in incriminating circumstances has a strong incentive to shift, blame or downplay his own role in comparison with that of others, in hopes of receiving a shorter sentence and leniency in exchange for cooperation.” ('Williamson v. United States (1994) 512 U.S. 594, 607-608 [114 S.Ct. 2431, 2439, 129 L.Ed.2d 476] (cone. opn. of Ginsburg, J.).)

¶8There is solid historical justification for an accomplice’s expectation that, even in the absence of an explicit agreement, the prosecution will reward testimony that results in a conviction by granting the testifying accomplice immunity from prosecution or at least leniency in charging or sentencing. “The old common law recognized a practice of ‘approvement’ under which a person arraigned for a felony might accuse another as his accomplice and become entitled to a pardon if the accused accomplice were convicted.” (Hughes, Agreements for Cooperation in Criminal Cases (1992) 45 Vand. L.Rev. 1, 7, fns. omitted (Hughes); see also Whiskey Cases (1878) 99 U.S. 594, 599 [25 L.Ed. 399, 401]; Zimmerman, Toward a New Vision of Informants: A History of Abuses and Suggestions for Reform (1994) 22 Hastings Const.L.Q. 81, 152-156; Note, Let’s Make a Deal: A Look at United States v. Dailey and Prosecutor-Witness Cooperation Agreements (1987) 67 B.U. L.Rev. 749, 761-762; Note, Accomplice Testimony Under Conditional Promise of Immunity (1952) 52 Colum. L.Rev. 138, 139.) The approvement system “fell into disuse because the likelihood of perjury by the accomplice was thought to outweigh the probative value of his testimony.” (Note, Accomplice Testimony Under Contingent Plea Agreements (1987) 72 Cornell L.Rev. 800, 801.) In this regard, a statement by Chief Justice Hale is often quoted: “ ‘The truth is that more mischief hath come to good men, by these kinds of approvements by false accusations of desperate villains, than benefit to the public by the discovery and convicting of real offenders.’ ” (2 Hale, The History of the Pleas of the Crown (1678) 226, quoted in Hughes, supra, 45 Vand. L.Rev. at p. 7, fn. 19.)

¶9Approvement was not the only system for rewarding accomplice testimony: “Apart from approvement, which fell into disuse by the eighteenth century, there also existed an informal practice by which an accused, though not legally entitled to a pardon, could obtain one by confessing to the crime and revealing his accomplices. This practice was rife in the nineteenth century when the lack of an organized police force often made it essential to procure accomplice testimony in order to track down or build a case against a major criminal. It was customary to advertise prominently the offer of pardons to accomplices who would come forward and testify leading to a conviction of the principal and to offer cash payments to witnesses who might come forward.” (Hughes, supra, 45 Vand. L.Rev. 1, 7-8, fns. omitted.) *573Thus, it is fair to say that “[t]he government has always solicited the help of cooperating witnesses to prosecute its cases [citations] and these witnesses, in turn, have traditionally been shown leniency at sentencing.” (U.S. v. Ming He (2d Cir. 1996) 94 F.3d 782, 787.)

¶10The word “distrust” correctly articulates the level of skepticism that a jury should use when considering how the hope or expectation of leniency or immunity may influence accomplice testimony that incriminates the defendant. The Legislature deliberately chose that word in 1872 when it enacted former section 2061 as part of the original Code of Civil Procedure, providing that “on all proper occasions,” trial courts were to instruct jurors to view accomplice testimony “with distrust” but, by comparison, to view evidence of a party’s oral admissions “with caution.” Although in 1965 the Legislature repealed former section 2061 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Stats. 1965, ch. 299, § 127, p. 1366, eff. Jan. 1, 1967), the Law Revision Commission’s comment to the repealing legislation states that because the section was “but a partial codification of the common law, the repeal should have no effect on the giving of the instructions contained in the section . . . .” (Cal. Law Revision Com. com., 21-22 West’s Ann. Code Civ. Proc. (1983 ed.) foil. § 2061, p. 268.)

¶11The choice of the word “distrust” reflects not only statutory precedent but also careful judicial reflection on the precise degree of skepticism with which a jury ought to regard accomplice testimony. This court has explained that the words “caution” and “distrust” are “quite different,” that “caution” requires only “care and watchfulness” whereas “distrust” has “meanings ranging from doubt and suspicion to lack of confidence,” and that, accordingly, “[a] jury’s estimate of evidence which it was directed to view ‘with caution’ might, and ordinarily would, be quite different from the effect which it would give to the same evidence considered ‘with distrust.’ ” (People v. Hamilton (1948) 33 Cal.2d 45, 51 [198 P.2d 873].)

¶12As this court has explained, use of the stronger word “distrust,” rather than “caution,” is the logical complement of the statutory corroboration requirement for accomplice testimony: “At common law the fact that a witness was an accomplice resulted only in an instruction that his testimony was to be viewed with care, caution, and suspicion unless corroborated in any material matter by independent evidence. (People v. Coffey [(1911)] 161 Cal. 433, 438 [119 P. 901]; see also 7 Wigmore on Evidence (3d ed.) § 2056, pp. 312-322, and cases cited therein at fn. 10.) The limitation based on the common law distrust of accomplices as now embodied in [Penal Code] section 1111 [barring convictions based on uncorroborated accomplice testimony] is much harsher than the common law limitation. Juries are now *574compelled rather than cautioned to view an accomplice’s testimony with distrust, for while his testimony is always admissible and in some respects competent to establish certain facts (see People v. McRae [(1947)] 31 Cal.2d 184, 187 [187 P.2d 741] [probable cause to hold defendant to answer at preliminary hearing]), such testimony has been legislatively determined never to be sufficiently trustworthy to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt unless corroborated.” (People v. Tewksbury (1976) 15 Cal.3d 953, 967 [127 Cal.Rptr. 135, 544 P.2d 1335].)

¶13In view of these considerations—the significant risk that a testifying accomplice will falsely put the blame on the defendant in the expectation that the prosecution will reward the testimony with immunity or leniency, the deliberate legislative choice of the word “distrust” rather than “caution” in formulating the appropriate warning to the jury, this court’s recognition that “distrust” is a significantly stronger word that “caution,” and this court’s recognition that the corroboration requirement reflects a Legislature determination that accomplice testimony is inherently and gravely suspect—this court, until today, has continuously reaffirmed the rule that trial courts are to instruct juries that “[wjhen the prosecution calls an accomplice as a witness, the trial court must instruct the jury that the witness’s testimony should be viewed with distrust.” (People v. Mincey (1992) 2 Cal.4th 408, 461 [6 Cal.Rptr.2d 822, 827 P.2d 388]; accord, People v. Williams (1997) 16 Cal.4th 153, 225 [66 Cal.Rptr.2d 123, 940 P.2d 710]; People v. Williams (1988) 45 Cal.3d 1268, 1314 [248 Cal.Rptr. 834, 756 P.2d 221]; People v. Gordon (1973) 10 Cal.3d 460, 470 [110 Cal.Rptr. 906, 516 P.2d 298].) I would retain the word “distrust” in the cautionary instruction for accomplice testimony.

¶14Apart from the accomplice’s hope that the prosecution will reward testimony resulting in a conviction, there are sound reasons why accomplice testimony “ought to be received with suspicion, and with the very greatest care and caution, and ought not to be passed upon by the jury under the same rules governing other and apparently credible witnesses.” (Crawford v. United States (1909) 212 U.S. 183, 204 [29 S.Ct. 260, 268, 53 L.Ed. 465].)

¶15Rarely are accomplices persons of integrity whose veracity is above suspicion. A witness’s own character for honesty and truthfulness, as revealed by past criminal conduct, is a proper factor in assessing credibility. (See People v. Wheeler (1992) 4 Cal.4th 284, 295 [14 Cal.Rptr.2d 418, 841 P.2d 938].) An accomplice’s participation in the charged crime is itself evidence of bad moral character and, depending on the crime, may indicate a penchant for dishonesty that should undermine confidence in the truthfulness of the accomplice’s testimony, whether that testimony favors the *575prosecution or the defense. (See Alarcon, Suspect Evidence: Admissibility of Co-conspirator Statements and Uncorroborated Accomplice Testimony (1992) 25 Loyola L.A. L.Rev. 953, 953-954 (Alarcon) [observing that accomplice testimony “is admissible even when uncontradicted evidence at trial has demonstrated that the . . . accomplice witness was a criminal of the vilest character”].)

¶16Another reason for skepticism is the accomplice’s obvious interest in avoiding or minimizing prosecution for the charged offense. Quite apart from any hope that the prosecution will grant the accomplice immunity or leniency as a reward for testimony that results in the defendant’s conviction, it is in the accomplice’s interest to persuade the prosecution that the offense is less serious than the charge indicates or that the accomplice’s own role in. its commission is relatively insignificant. (See Alarcon, supra, 25 Loyola L.A. L.Rev. 953, 960.) For this reason, accomplice testimony may falsely minimize the seriousness of the crime or the accomplice’s culpability for it. Testimony portraying the offense as less serious than charged necessarily would favor the defense, but testimony minimizing the accomplice’s role could favor either the prosecution (by shifting primary blame to the defendant) or the defense (by shifting primary blame to other individuals).

¶17Finally, special caution is warranted because an accomplice’s firsthand knowledge of the details of the criminal conduct allows for the construction of plausible falsehoods not easily disproved. This court has previously described the problem in these words: “[Accomplice testimony is frequently cloaked with a plausibility which may interfere with the jury’s ability to evaluate its credibility. ‘ “[A]n accomplice is not merely a witness with a possible motive to tell lies about an innocent accused but is such a witness peculiarly equipped, by reason of his inside knowledge of the crime, to convince the unwary that his lies are the truth.” ’ (Heydon, The Corroboration of Accomplices (Eng. ed. 1973) Crim.L.Rev. 264, 266; see also Note, 54 Colum.L.Rev. 219, 234.)” {People v. Tewksbury, supra,15 Cal.3d 953, 967; see also Note, Accomplices in Federal Court: A Case For Increased Evidentiary Standards (1990) 100 Yale L.J. 785, 787 [“Since the accomplice alone knows about the pattern of criminal events, he can manipulate the details of those events without blatant discrepancies.”]; Hughes, supra, 45 Vand. L.Rev. 1, 33 [“Courts should instruct juries to consider how easily suspects with inside knowledge can fabricate testimony and the strong incentive for suspects to do so when their liberty may depend on it.”].)

¶18A jury that is warned of these specific reasons why accomplice testimony may be less than the whole truth will be prepared to properly assess the *576credibility of such testimony. To convey this warning, I would direct trial courts to instruct juries substantially as follows: “In deciding whether to believe testimony given by an accomplice, you should use greater care and caution than you do when deciding whether to believe testimony given by an ordinary witness. Because an accomplice is also subject to prosecution for the same offense-, an accomplice’s testimony may be strongly influenced by the hope or expectation that the prosecution will reward testimony that supports the prosecution’s case by granting the accomplice immunity or leniency. For this reason, you should view with distrust accomplice testimony that supports the prosecution’s case. Whether or not the accomplice testimony supports the prosecution’s case, you should bear in mind the accomplice’s interest in minimizing the seriousness of the crime and the significance of the accomplice’s own role in its commission, the fact that the accomplice’s participation in the crime may show the accomplice to be an untrustworthy person, and an accomplice’s particular ability, because of inside knowledge about the details of the crime, to construct plausible falsehoods about it. In giving you this warning about accomplice testimony, I do not mean to suggest that you must or should disbelieve the accomplice testimony that you heard at this trial. Rather, you should give the accomplice testimony whatever weight you decide it deserves after considering all the evidence in the case.”

¶19Like Justice Brown, I have a high opinion of jurors’ abilities, and I agree that, in the words of Presiding Justice Gardner, “[a] juror is not some kind of a dithering nincompoop, brought in from never-never land and exposed to the harsh realities of life for the first time in the jury box.” (People v. Long (1974) 38 Cal.App.3d 680, 689 [113 Cal.Rptr. 530].) Still, most jurors have only limited experience with the actual workings of the criminal justice system and the pressures that operate on testifying accomplices. Few jurors have ever been formally accused of a crime or put in a situation where their liberty may depend upon assisting the prosecution to obtain another’s conviction. When their duties as jurors require them to confront situations and concepts with which they have only limited familiarity, most jurors, I think, would welcome instructions that explain not only the rules they are to follow in reaching their verdicts but also the reasoning that underlies those rules.

¶20I concur in the majority’s decision affirming the judgment of the Court of Appeal because no prejudicial instructional error appears. (Maj. opn., ante, at pp. 569-570.) I also wholeheartedly concur in the majority’s revision of CALJIC No. 3.18 that henceforth will absolve trial courts of the sua sponte obligation to tailor the standard accomplice *577cautionary instruction1 to state it has no application to portions of an accomplice’s testimony “favorable” to the defendant. That requirement derived from this court’s opinion in People v. Williams (1988) 45 Cal.3d 1268 [248 Cal.Rptr. 834, 756 P.2d 221] (Williams)—the so-called “third prong” requirement that where an accomplice is called as a witness by both the prosecution and the defense, “the instruction should be [sua sponte] tailored to relate only to his testimony on behalf of the prosecution.” (Id. at p. 1314.) The majority’s revision of CALJIC No. 3.18 is an improvement over Williams’ s “tailoring” requirement in that it lifts yet another unreasonable burden from the shoulders of our overworked trial courts—the sua sponte obligation to revise an instruction in a complex area of the law on a case-by-case basis—one that opens the door to reversal on appeal, with the “blame” then falling, in hindsight, on the overburdened trial court.

¶21I further concur in the majority’s determination to remove the term “distrust” from the standardized accomplice cautionary instruction. Notwithstanding its long-standing use, I fail to see the wisdom of such an overpowering directive, which as a practical matter instructs the jury to find the testifying accomplice lacking in credibility, a directive that invades the province of the jury and pays no deference to the jurors’ collective wisdom, common sense and good judgment. There is presently no statutory requirement in California for retaining the specific term “distrust” in the standardized accomplice cautionary instruction, and indeed many states deem such an instruction, however worded, to be unnecessary, even when requested by the defense, because the corroboration requirement and general witness credibility instructions together serve as an adequate admonition to juries that accomplice testimony may be suspect. (See, e.g., Ladson v. State (1981) 248 Ga. 470 [285 S.E.2d 508, 514]; State v. Reese (Iowa 1981) 301 N.W.2d 693, 697; Blizzard v. State (1976) 30 Md.App. 156 [351 A.2d 443, 450]; State v. LaJambe (1974) 300 Minn. 539 [219 N.W.2d 917, 919]; People v. Ely (1990) 164 A.D.2d 442 [563 N.Y.S.2d 890, 891-892]; State v. Lind (N.D. 1982) 322 N.W.2d 826, 843; State v. Hutchison (Tenn. 1995) 898 S.W.2d 161, 172.)

¶22I write separately only to indicate my uncertainty of the wisdom behind the requirement that the giving of an accomplice cautionary instruction such as that embodied in CALJIC No. 3.18 be made obligatory upon our trial courts in the first instance. (See Williams, supra,45 Cal.3d at p. 1314; People v. Terry (1970) 2 Cal.3d 362, 399 [85 Cal.Rptr. 409, 466 P.2d 961].) As noted by Justice Brown, separate and apart from the cautionary admonition of CALJIC No. 3.18, “juries are more than adequately apprised of the *578pitfalls of accomplice testimony by a veritable slew of other standard jury instructions, including both the general witness credibility instructions and the extensive series of instructions given to implement the statutory accomplice corroboration requirement.” (Cone. & dis. opn. of Brown, J., post, at p. 579, fn. omitted.) Moreover, respondent’s brief cites numerous out-of-state decisions holding that an accomplice cautionary instruction such as that embodied in CALJIC No. 3.18 either need not be given even when requested (see cases cited ante, at p. 577), or in some jurisdictions is prohibited from being given altogether, because such a jury charge is deemed an improper comment on the evidence, one that improperly intrudes upon the jury’s role as fact finder. (See, e.g., Bates v. State (Ala.Crim.App. 1986) 484 So.2d 1206, 1208; State v. Lucio (1979) 99 Idaho 765 [589 P.2d 100, 101]; Buxton v. State (Tex.Crim.App. 1983) 646 S.W.2d 445, 446.)

¶23In this case, however, respondent is not challenging the underlying rule requiring that when an accomplice is called as a witness by the prosecution, the trial court has a sua sponte duty to instruct the jury, in the language we approve today, that “testimony unfavorable to the defendant should be viewed with care and caution.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 561.) Nor has the matter been directly raised, addressed, or fully briefed by both parties to this case. As such, I will reserve my concerns and possible objection to the sua sponte nature of the instructional requirement for another day.

¶24Chin, J., concurred.

¶26I concur in the majority’s decision insofar as it affirms the judgment of the Court of Appeal. I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that “whenever an accomplice, or a witness who might be determined by the jury to be an accomplice, testifies,” the jury must be instructed to examine the testimony “ ‘with care and caution and in the light of all the evidence in the case.’ ” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 569 [outlining permanent revisions to CALJIC No. 3.18].) Such an instruction “does little to improve the quest for justice in the trial courts while frequently generating an argument for reversal on appeal. [Citation.]” (People v. Prettyman (1996) 14 Cal.4th 248, 293 [58 Cal.Rptr.2d 827, 926 P.2d 1013] (cone. & dis. opn. of Brown, J.).)

¶27As several early decisions of this court correctly recognized, the cautionary instruction the majority requires trial courts to give sua sponte is unnecessary because it “states mere commonplace matter within the general knowledge of the jury.” (Hirshfeld v. Dana (1924) 193 Cal. 142, 160 [223 P. 451]; see also People v. Ruiz (1904) 144 Cal. 251, 253 [77 P. 907]; People v. Wardrip (1903) 141 Cal. 229, 232 [74 P. 744].) The notion that an accomplice may have a motive to lie or to shade his or her testimony is scarcely *579beyond the "comprehension of the average juror. As Presiding Justice' Gardner aptly put it, “[a] juror is not some kind of a dithering nincompoop, brought in from never-never land and exposed to the harsh realities of life for the first time in the jury box.” (People v. Long (1974) 38 Cal.App.3d 680, 689 [113 Cal.Rptr. 530].)

¶28In any event, juries are more than adequately apprised of the pitfalls of accomplice testimony by a veritable slew of other standard jury instructions, including both the general witness credibility instructions and the extensive series of instructions given to implement the statutory accomplice corroboration requirement.1 A review of the instructions given to the jury in this case is instructive.

¶29First, pursuant to CALJIC No. 2.20, entitled “Believability of Witness,” the jury was instructed:

“Every person who testifies under oath is a witness. You are the sole judges of the believability of a witness and the weight to be given the testimony of each of the witnesses.

“In determining the believability of a witness you may consider anything that has a tendency in reason to prove or disprove the truthfulness of the testimony of the witness, including but not limited to any of the following factors:

“The extent of the opportunity or the ability of the witness to see or hear or otherwise become aware of any matter about which the witness has testified;

“The ability of the witness to remember or communicate any matter about which the witness has testified;

“The character and quality of that testimony;

“The demeanor and manner of the witness while testifying;

“The existence or nonexistence of a bias, interest or other motive;

*580“Evidence of the existence or nonexistence of any fact testified to by the witness;

“The attitude of the witness toward this action or toward the giving of testimony itself;

“A statement previously made by the witness that is consistent or inconsistent with the testimony of the witness;

“An admission by the witness of untruthfulness;

“The witness’ prior conviction of a felony offense.”

Second, pursuant to CALJIC No. 3.10, entitled “Accomplice—Defined,” the jury was instructed:

“An accomplice is a person who is subject to prosecution for the identical offenses charged in counts one, two, and three against the defendant on trial by reason of aiding and abetting or being a member of a criminal conspiracy.”2

Third, pursuant to CALJIC No. 3.11, entitled “Testimony of Accomplice Must Be Corroborated,” the jury was instructed:

“A defendant cannot be found guilty based upon the testimony of an accomplice unless such testimony is corroborated by other evidence which tends to connect such defendant with the commission of the offense.

“Testimony of an accomplice includes any out of court statement purportedly made by an accomplice received for the purpose of proving what the accomplice stated was true.”

¶30Fourth, pursuant to CALJIC No. 3.12, entitled “Sufficiency of Evidence to Corroborate an Accomplice,” the jury was instructed:

¶31“To corroborate the testimony of an accomplice there must be evidence of some act or fact related to the crime which if believed by itself and without any aid, interpretation or direction from the testimony of the accomplice tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the crime charged.

¶32“However, it is not necessary that the evidence of corroboration be sufficient in itself to establish every element of the crime charged or that it *581corroborate every fact to which the accomplice testifies. In determining whether an accomplice has been corroborated, you must first assume that the testimony of the accomplice has been removed from the case. You must then determine whether there is any remaining evidence which tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the crime. If there is not such independent evidence which tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the crime, the testimony of the accomplice is not corroborated. If there is such independent evidence which you believe, then the testimony of [the] accomplice is corroborated.”

¶33Fifth, pursuant to CALJIC No. 3.13,,entitled “One Accomplice May Not Corroborate Another,” the jury was instructed:

“The required corroboration of the testimony of an accomplice may not be supplied by the testimony of any or all of his or her accomplices, but must come from other evidence.”

¶34Sixth, pursuant to CALJIC No. 3.14, entitled “Criminal- Intent Necessary to Make One an Accomplice,” the jury was instructed:

“Merely assenting to or aiding or assisting in the commission of a crime without knowledge of the unlawful purpose of the perpetrator and without the intent or purpose of the perpetrator and without the intent or purpose of committing, encouraging or facilitating the crime is not criminal. Thus a person who assents to or aids or assists in the commission of a crime without such knowledge and without such intent or purpose is not an accomplice in the commission of the crime.”

¶35Seventh, and finally, pursuant to CALJIC No. 3.19, entitled “Burden to Prove Corroborating Witness Is an Accomplice,” the jury was instructed:

“You must determine whether the witnesses, Prince W[.], Josh S[.] and Elisha F[.], were accomplices as I defined that term. The defendant has the burden of proving by the preponderance of the evidence that Prince W[.], Josh S[.] and Elisha F[.] were accomplices in the crimes charged against the defendant.”3

¶36Apparently subscribing to the notion that nothing succeeds like excess, the majority insists that juries must also be instructed to examine an accomplice’s testimony “ ‘with care and caution and in the light of all the evidence *582in the case.’ ” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 569.) Why? If the jury hasn’t figured it out by now, 15 more words will not make a bit of difference.4

¶37Fortunately, I do not share the majority’s dim view of jurors. Rather, I would presume, as we do in virtually every other context, that jurors are “intelligent, capable of understanding instructions and applying them to the facts of the case. [Citation.]” (Conservatorship of Early (1983) 35 Cal.3d 244, 253 [197 Cal.Rptr. 539, 673 P.2d 209].) In my view, “by requiring the jury to find some evidence corroborating an accomplice’s testimony, the jury is sufficiently informed of the inherently suspect nature of accomplice testimony.” (State v. Hutchison (Tenn. 1994) 898 S.W.2d 161, 172.) Indeed, “the accomplice corroboration requirement arises out of, or is premised upon, the suspicion and caution with which the law views accomplice testimony [citations].” (People v. Ely (1990) 164 A.D.2d 442 [563 N.Y.S.2d 890, 892].) As this court explained in People v. Tewksbury (1976) 15 Cal.3d 953, 967 [127 Cal.Rptr. 135, 544 P.2d 1335], “[a]t common law the fact that a witness was an accomplice resulted only in an instruction that his testimony was to be viewed with care, caution, and suspicion unless corroborated in any material matter by independent evidence. [Citations.] The limitation based on the common law distrust of accomplices as now embodied in [Penal Code] section 1111 is much harsher than the common law limitation. Juries are now compelled rather than cautioned to view an accomplice’s testimony with distrust, for while his testimony is always admissible and in some respects competent to establish certain facts [citation], such testimony has been legislatively determined never to be sufficiently trustworthy to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt unless corroborated.”

¶38In other words, when a jury focuses on whether the remaining evidence in a case is sufficient to corroborate the testimony of an accomplice, it is viewing the accomplice’s testimony “ ‘with care and caution and in the light of all the evidence in the case.’ ” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 569.) Thus, as other states with accomplice corroboration requirements have recognized, when the full panoply of general witness credibility and accomplice corroboration instructions are given, as they were in this case, the majority’s additional cautionary instruction is simply redundant. (See, e.g., Ladson v. State (1981) 248 Ga. 470 [285 S.E.2d 508, 514]; State v. Reese (Iowa 1981) 301 N.W.2d *583693, 696-698; Blizzard v. State (1976) 30 Md.App. 156 [351 A.2d 443, 449-450], revd. on other grounds in State v. Blizzard (1976) 278 Md. 556 [366 A.2d 1026]; State v. LaJambe (1974) 300 Minn. 539 [219 N.W.2d 917, 919]; People v. Ely, supra,563 N.Y.S.2d at pp. 891-892; State v. Lind (N.D. 1982) 322 N.W.2d 826, 843; State v. Hutchison, supra,898 S.W.2d at p. 172.)

¶39Nor is it necessary to “advise jurors of the reasons why accomplice testimony should be viewed skeptically.” (Cone. opn. of Kennard, J., ante, at p. 570; see Blizzard v. State, supra, 351 A.2d at p. 450 [rejecting such a requirement]; State v. LaJambe, supra,219 N.W.2d at p. 919 [same]; People v. Ely, supra,563 N.Y.S.2d at p. 892 [same].) I agree that “ ‘an accomplice’s testimony may be strongly influenced by the hope or expectation that the prosecution will reward testimony that supports the prosecution’s case by-granting the accomplice immunity or leniency’ ” (cone. opn. of Kennard, J., ante, at pp. 575-576, italics added), that an accomplice may have an “ ‘interest in minimizing the seriousness of the crime and the significance of the accomplice’s own role in its commission’ ” (id. at p. 576), that “ ‘the accomplice’s participation in the crime may show the accomplice to be an untrustworthy person’ ” (ibid., italics added), and that an accomplice may have a “ ‘particular ability, because of inside knowledge about the details of the crime, to construct plausible falsehoods about it’ ” (ibid.). These permissible inferences “may be fully explored on cross-examination and jury argument.” (State v. Reese, supra,301 N.W.2d at p. 697.) They are not, however, proper subjects for jury instruction. The facts of this case amply demonstrate why. Here, as in many other cases, much of the accomplice testimony cited by defendant could be construed as “favorable,” “unfavorable,” or both “favorable” and “unfavorable” simultaneously. (See maj. opn., ante, at pp. 563-564 & fn. 2.) Under these circumstances, an elaborate one-size-fits-all instruction is wholly inappropriate and risks intruding on the fact-finding province of juries.

¶40Nor do I agree that the People are “not challenging the underlying rule requiring that when an accomplice is called as a witness by the prosecution, the trial court has a sua sponte duty to instruct the jury, in the language we approve today.” (Cone. opn. of Baxter, J., ante, at p. 578.) The People devote a substantial portion of their briefing to explaining why the majority’s cautionary instruction is unnecessary, noting that not a single other state with an accomplice corroboration requirement also imposes such a sua sponte instructional obligation on its trial courts. At oral argument, when asked about the possibility of a permanent revision to CALJIC No. 3.18, the People described it as “an absolute last resort” to their “first choice” of “eliminating the sua sponte instruction altogether.” The People specifically *584argued that there is “no reason why the trial court should ever be required as a matter of sua sponte instruction to instruct juries to distrust accomplice testimony.” (Italics added.) Hence, the sua sponte nature of a trial court’s instructional obligation falls well within the scope of the issues briefed and argued by the People.5

¶41In conclusion, while the majority’s permanent revision to CALIIC No. 3.18 is certainly an improvement over the current version of the instruction, in reality, there is no compelling reason to give the instruction at all. Thus, I would no longer require that it be given. Busy trial courts and juries have enough things to worry about. Superfluous jury instructions should not be one of them.