Case Title: P. v. Ghobrial

Citation: 

Docket Number: S105908M

State: california

Court: California Supreme Court

Date: 2018-08-09T00:00:00Z

Document:
1 
Filed 8/8/18 
 
 
 
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 
 
THE PEOPLE, 
) 
 
 
) 
 
Plaintiff and Respondent, 
) 
 
 
) 
S105908 
 
v. 
) 
 
 
) 
 
JOHN SAMUEL GHOBRIAL, 
) 
 
) 
Orange County 
 
Defendant and Appellant. 
) 
Super. Ct. No. 98NF0906  
 
____________________________________) 
 
ORDER MODIFYING OPINION AND 
DENYING PETITION FOR REHEARING 
 
THE COURT: 
 
The opinion herein, filed June 21, 2018, and appearing at 5 Cal.5th 250, is 
modified as follows: 
1. On page 290, in the second full paragraph on that page, the second sentence, 
beginning, “Although the prosecutor”, is modified so that the words “equally 
worthy of condemnation” are deleted and the words, “culpable for his crimes 
because of any connection with September 11, the terrorists, or their racial or 
national background” are inserted.  The modified sentence will then read as 
follows:  “Although the prosecutor briefly referred to Osama bin Laden, Al 
Qaeda, and the terrorists who perpetrated the September 11 attacks, the 
prosecutor never suggested that defendant’s crime was somehow comparable 
to those attacks or that defendant was culpable for his crimes because of any 
 
 
 
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connection with September 11, the terrorists, or their racial or national 
background. 
2. On page 290, in the second full paragraph on that page, the third sentence 
beginning, “Indeed, the prosecutor’s”, is modified so that the words “at all” 
following the word “defendant” are deleted and the words, “ — namely, that a 
defendant’s mental illness does not always negate criminal liability” are 
inserted at the end of that sentence following the words “prosecutor’s 
argument.”  The modified sentence will then read as follows:  “Indeed, the 
prosecutor’s references were not clearly directed at defendant, but were instead 
designed to illustrate general legal points relevant to the prosecutor’s 
argument — namely, that a defendant’s mental illness does not always negate 
criminal liability.” 
 
After modification, the full paragraph will read as follows: 
 
In any event, defendant’s claims lack merit.  Although the prosecutor briefly 
referred to Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and the terrorists who perpetrated the 
September 11 attacks, the prosecutor never suggested that defendant’s crime was 
somehow comparable to those attacks or that defendant was culpable for his crimes 
because of any connection with September 11, the terrorists, or their racial or national 
background.  Indeed, the prosecutor’s references were not clearly directed at 
defendant, but were instead designed to illustrate general legal points relevant to the 
prosecutor’s argument — namely, that a defendant’s mental illness does not always 
negate criminal liability.  The prosecutor did not commit misconduct.  (Compare 
People v. McDermott (2002) 28 Cal.4th 946, 1003 (McDermott) [finding no 
misconduct where the prosecutor compared the defendant to “a Nazi working in the 
 
 
 
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crematorium by day and listening to Mozart by night” because the prosecutor “was 
not comparing defendant’s conduct in arranging [the] murder with the genocidal 
actions of the Nazi regime,” and instead “was arguing that human beings sometimes 
lead double lives, showing a refined sensitivity in some activities while demonstrating 
barbaric cruelty in others”] with People v. Zurinaga (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 1248, 
1260 [finding nonprejudicial misconduct where the prosecutor made an extended 
comparison of the defendants’ robbery and false imprisonment offenses to the 
hijackings that occurred on September 11, 2001].) 
 
This modification does not affect the judgment.  
 
John Samuel Ghobrial’s petition for rehearing is denied.