Opinion ID: 1237936
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Double Counting of Montana Incident

Text: Under section 190.3, factor (b) (prior criminal activity involving violence), the prosecution introduced evidence of the December 1971 incident in Montana in which defendant escaped from custody and used motorist John Digalis as a hostage. Under section 190.3, factor (c) (prior felony conviction), the prosecution introduced evidence of defendant's 1972 Montana conviction resulting from the same incident. (105) Defendant contends that the manner in which these two items were presented to the jury caused an unacceptable risk that the jury would double count these separate but related circumstances. As defendant acknowledges, we have held that when a capital defendant's prior violent criminal conduct has resulted in a felony conviction, the prosecution is not required to choose between factors (b) and (c) of section 190.3 but may present evidence and argument to establish both factors, and the jury may properly consider both factors in making its penalty determination. ( People v. Melton (1988) 44 Cal.3d 713, 764 [244 Cal. Rptr. 867, 750 P.2d 741].) Defendant argues that this holding does not control here because it presupposes the jury's understanding that the prior felony conviction is based on the criminal conduct described in the testimony. The error here, he asserts, is that the prosecution presented and argued the evidence in a manner that improperly suggested there were two separate incidents. Having reviewed the record, we find no significant risk of juror confusion on this issue. The prior conviction was proved by documentary evidence. Among the documents was the Montana information, which charged that the incident occurred on December 29, 1971, and that John Digalis was the victim. No reasonable juror could have concluded that John Digalis's testimony, which described his encounter with defendant on December 29, 1971, related to some other incident.