Can a defendant be forced to testify before a jury in a sexual assault case?

In People v. Stinson (1963) 214 Cal.App.2d 476, a police officer testified that the defendant's "'parole officer came down and talked to him.'" (Id. at p. 479.) The trial court immediately struck the testimony and ordered the jury to disregard it, but delayed ruling upon the defendant's motion for mistrial, so that the defendant was effectively forced to testify. (Id. at pp. 479-481.) The appellate court observed, "Improper evidence of prior offenses results in reversal only where the appellate court's review of the trial record reveals a closely balanced state of the evidence. [Citations.] The same error, viewed in the light of a record which points convincingly to guilt, is consistently regarded as nonprejudicial." (Id. at p. 482.) The court found that the trial record pointed "emphatically to defendant's guilt," with or without the defendant's forced testimony. (Id. at pp. 482-483.)