Opinion ID: 844274
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Limitation of Defense Argument

Text: Defendant claims the trial court violated his rights to a fair trial, a fair and impartial jury, and a reliable penalty determination by prohibiting defense counsel from comparing his case to more egregious murders prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney. To make the point that the decision to seek the death penalty is politically motivated, defense counsel wanted to argue that celebrities are rarely ever charged with special circumstances or given the death penalty. Specifically, he wanted to compare defendant's case with the prosecutions of O.J. Simpson and the Menendez brothers, who escaped death sentences despite the brutality of their crimes, and other notorious cases. Although it had misgivings, the trial court initially believed defendant was entitled to make such comparisons because section 190.3, factor (k) permits juries to consider any circumstance that might mitigate the gravity of the offense. Later in the day, however, the court announced that it was reconsidering this order based on People v. Mincey, supra, 2 Cal.4th 408, People v. Wright (1990) 52 Cal.3d 367 [276 Cal.Rptr. 731, 802 P.2d 221] and People v. Grant (1988) 45 Cal.3d 829 [248 Cal.Rptr. 444, 755 P.2d 894]. The following day, after further discussion, the court ruled that counsel would not be permitted to make any argument comparing the penalties sought or received in other cases. Based on this court's precedents, the court found that penalties in other cases were necessarily irrelevant to the issues before defendant's jury. However, it did not preclude defense counsel from arguing that the death penalty is imposed arbitrarily and capriciously, so long as he did not discuss the outcomes of specific cases. Counsel emphasized this point in his closing argument. He argued that district attorneys' charging practices were arbitrary and the death penalty was pursued only against anonymous people, Blacks that kill non[-]Blacks, poor people, people that are not celebrities and[,] most[] importantly[,] people[] who don't have money, who can't afford four, five, six lawyers. [20] (46) On numerous occasions, we have upheld a trial court's refusal `to allow defense counsel to compare the subject crime to other well-known murders' ( People v. Hughes [, supra , ] 27 Cal.4th [at p.] 400 . . .), or to note the penalty imposed in such cases ( People v. Sakarias (2000) 22 Cal.4th 596, 640 [94 Cal.Rptr.2d 17, 995 P.2d 152]), while allowing argument that there `were other murderers worse than he' ( People v. Benavides [, supra , ] 35 Cal.4th [at p.] 110 . . .). `[M]eaningful comparisons with other well-publicized crimes cannot be made solely on the basis of the circumstances of the crime . . . without consideration of the other aggravating and mitigating circumstances.' [Citations.] ( People v. Farley (2009) 46 Cal.4th 1053, 1130-1131 [96 Cal.Rptr.3d 191, 210 P.3d 361].) To be relevant, a comparison to the celebrity prosecutions that did not result in imposition of the death penalty would have required a discussion of all the facts and circumstances of those other cases. We have held that when, as here, a factual comparison with other notorious crimes cannot be made without a time-consuming inclusion of all of the facts in mitigation and aggravation, the trial court can exercise its discretion to control the scope of oral argument by refusing to allow defense counsel to compare the subject crime to other murders. [Citations.] ( People v. Benavides, at p. 110.) In People v. Benavides, supra, 35 Cal.4th at pages 109-110, the defendant wanted to compare his case with the well-known atrocities committed by Charles Manson, the Boston Strangler, and others whom he would argue were more deserving of the death penalty. We held the court acted within its discretion when it prevented the defense from presenting specific facts about other notorious murder cases where the death penalty was not imposed, but did not preclude him from arguing that there were other murderers worse than he. ( Id. at p. 110.) Defendant sought to make essentially the same argument here. As in Benavides, the trial court struck an appropriate balance by allowing defendant to argue that the death penalty is arbitrarily and unfairly imposed but prohibiting discussion of specific circumstances in other cases. This ruling was not an abuse of discretion. (See also People v. Farley, supra, 46 Cal.4th at pp. 1130-1131 [court properly precluded defense counsel from arguing the facts of other cases while still allowing him to argue defendant's murders were not `the worst of the worst'].) Finally, defendant argues that even if the trial court's ruling was proper, defense counsel should have been permitted to argue the facts of other cases to rebut a reference in the prosecutor's closing argument. In encouraging jurors to impose the death penalty as a just punishment for the murder of Soy Sung Lao, the prosecutor mentioned a famous incident in which a New York woman was killed near her home while neighbors ignored her cries for help. [21] Because defendant did not object to this argument, his claim is forfeited on appeal. In any event, the prosecutor's fleeting reference to a famous murder did not exceed the boundaries of the trial court's ruling. The prosecutor simply mentioned the incident without discussing any details of the crime or the murderer's prosecution. The court was not obligated to revisit the appropriate limits placed on defense counsel's argument based on this brief reference to a famous crime.