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Name: People v. Cuccia
Case #: G028341
Opinion Date: 04/15/2002
Division: 3
Citation: 97 Cal.App.4th 785
Summary

The cumulative effect of the trial court’s errors in 1) forcing defendant to testify out of order and 2) refusing to allow him to testifiiy after the prosecutor was permitted to reopen rebuttal required reversal. Both errors could have been avoided by granting brief continuances (defendant testified when his defense witness inexplicably failed to appear to testify in the afternoon after testifying in the morning and after the prosecutor introduced a signed declaration by defendant in rebuttal, the defense request for a continuance to confer with defendant and the attorney who drafted it were denied).