People v. Otis

Appellant here cannot properly complain of the court’s failure to instruct that fear of serious bodily harm constitutes duress if neither the instruction, nor the facts of the case itself, compose a present, active and immediate peril of such harm. Nor does the fact that a witness stated that “ [a]s far as I could gather” an overheard conversation referred to a particular matter necessarily render the testimony inadmissible. Finally, evidence of an attempt to escape during the period of confinement constitutes proof of consciousness of guilt and is admissible. We discuss these propositions in…