Opinion ID: 1442039
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 22

Heading: Instruction on Weighing Process

Text: The court gave a modified version of the 1986 revision of CALJIC No. 8.84.2 as follows: It is now your duty to determine which of the two penalties, death or confinement in the state prison for life without possibility of parole, shall be imposed on the defendant. [¶] After having heard and considered the arguments of counsel, you shall consider, take into account and be guided by the applicable factors of aggravating and mitigating circumstances upon which you have been instructed. [¶] The weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances does not mean a mere mechanical counting of factors on each side of an imaginary scale, or the arbitrary assignment of weights to any of them. You are free to assign whatever moral or sympathetic value you deem appropriate to each and all of the various factors you are permitted to consider. In weighing the various circumstances you simply determine under the relevant evidence which penalty is justified and appropriate by considering the totality of the aggravating circumstances with the totality of the mitigating circumstances. To return a judgment of death, each of you must be persuaded that the aggravating circumstances are so substantial in comparison with the mitigating circumstances that it warrants [ sic ] death instead of life without parole. [¶] In order for the jury to impose either possible sentence, all twelve jurors must agree to that sentence. [¶] This means that before the jury can return a verdict of death, all twelve jurors must agree that the factors in aggravation outweigh the factors in mitigation. Before the jury can return a verdict of confinement in the state prison for life without possibility of parole, all twelve jurors must agree that the factors in aggravation do not outweigh the factors in mitigation. ... (16) Defendant contends that the italicized portion of the instruction was erroneous because it did not tell the jurors that they could also return a verdict of life imprisonment without possibility of parole if they agreed that the factors in aggravation outweighed those in mitigation but found death was not the appropriate penalty under all the circumstances. His contention fails. In People v. Boyde (1988) 46 Cal.3d 212, 252-255 [250 Cal. Rptr. 83, 758 P.2d 25], we repudiated assertions that the weighing and appropriateness functions were separate and independent: [T]he jury makes its appropriateness determination during its normative weighing process. Then, based upon its determination of the weight of mitigating factors relative to aggravating factors, it chooses the appropriate penalty  life without possibility of parole if mitigating circumstances outweigh aggravating, or death if aggravating circumstances outweigh mitigating. (46 Cal.3d at p. 254.) Any doubt about the constitutionality of our interpretation was laid to rest by the United States Supreme Court in Boyde v. California (1990) 494 U.S. 370 [108 L.Ed.2d 316, 110 S.Ct. 1190]. Moreover, we note that defendant's contention is undermined by the fact that the court gave the following special instructions: If the mitigating evidence gives rise to compassion or sympathy for the defendant, the jury may, based upon such sympathy or compassion alone, reject death as a penalty. [¶] A mitigating factor does not have be proved beyond a reasonable doubt to be considered. You may find that a mitigating factor exists if there is any substantial evidence to support it. [¶] Moreover, the law does not require that you find the existence of any mitigating factor before you choose life without the possibility of parole over death.