Opinion ID: 1369044
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The alleged reason for reconsidering Carlos.

Text: The majority open their discussion by explaining their reasons for reconsidering Carlos  a curious explanation, because it appears to concede that Carlos was correctly decided. The majority note that Carlos was based in part on the United States Supreme Court decision in Enmund v. Florida (1982) 458 U.S. 782 [73 L.Ed.2d 1140, 102 S.Ct. 3368]. Carlos noted that Enmund was susceptible of alternative interpretations: a narrow one which would require proof of intent to kill before an accomplice could be executed, and a broader one which would require such proof for the actual killer as well. Since Enmund himself was an accomplice, the decision did not decide the intent requirement for the actual killer. As Justice Brennan, speaking for four of the five members of the Enmund majority, remarked in Tison v. Arizona (1987) 481 U.S. ___, ___ [95 L.Ed.2d 127, 152, 107 S.Ct. 1676], the constitutionality of the death penalty for the unintentional killer was a question reserved by Enmund  an unsettled question which might be decided either way in a later case. Carlos accordingly turned to the principle that where a statute is susceptible of two constructions, by one of which grave and doubtful constitutional questions arise and by the other of which such questions are avoided, our duty is to adopt the latter. ( United States v. Delaware & Hudson Co. (1909) 213 U.S. 366, 407-408 [53 L.Ed. 836, 849, 29 S.Ct. 527], quoted in Carlos, 35 Cal.3d at p. 148.) Applying this principle, it became our duty to construe the 1978 death penalty law to impose an intent to kill requirement for the actual killer. The majority, as I read their opinion, dispute none of this. They agree that Carlos's interpretation of Enmund was a reasonable one; indeed they cite commentary, unavailable when Carlos was decided, which supports our view. Neither do they dispute the proposition that courts have a duty to interpret statutes to avoid serious constitutional questions, nor that such duty required us to interpret the 1978 law to include an intent to kill requirement for actual killers. In short, the majority appear to agree that Carlos was correctly reasoned on this fundamental point, and in view of the importance of the point, that is equivalent to conceding that Carlos was correctly decided. In short, the majority do not say that Carlos was wrong but that it is outdated. They assert that two subsequent Supreme Court decisions ( Cabana v. Bullock (1986) 474 U.S. 376 [88 L.Ed.2d 704, 106 S.Ct. 689] and Tison v. Arizona, supra, 481 U.S. ___ [95 L.Ed.2d 127, 107 S.Ct. 1676], both five-to-four decisions, read Enmund more narrowly then we did. [6] The language the majority quote from those decisions, however, offers little support for their assertion; it consists only of insignificant dictum from Cabana v. Bullock [7] and a mistaken footnote in Tison v. Arizona . [8] In any case, the majority's assertions fail on several grounds. In the first place, Carlos was not based solely on the fear that Enmund v. Florida, supra, 458 U.S. 782, might invalidate the 1978 law. Our decision also considered the text of the statute, the ballot arguments, and the rule that a defendant is entitled to the benefit of any reasonable doubt concerning the interpretation of a penal law. None of these considerations are affected by the cited United States Supreme Court decisions. Furthermore, the majority's assertion that Cabana v. Bullock, supra, 474 U.S. 376 and Tison v. Arizona, supra, 481 U.S. ___ [95 L.Ed.2d 127, 107 S.Ct. 1676] undermine the reasoning of Carlos clearly rests on a misunderstanding. Carlos did not say that one interpretation of Enmund was right and another wrong. We said that Enmund could reasonably be interpreted to require proof of intent for the actual killer. The fact that a bare majority of the court in Tison adopted a narrower view in no way refutes that assertion. And in a still later case, Booth v. Maryland (1987) 482 U.S. ___ [96 L.Ed.2d 440, 107 S.Ct. 2529], another five-to-four majority appeared to reject much of the reasoning of Tison. [9] Finally, the majority's confidence that the constitutional issues raised by Enmund have been conclusively settled may be unwarranted. The pattern of five-to-four decisions demonstrates that four of the eight justices currently sitting believe that the death penalty can be justified, if at all, only by considerations of deterrence and culpability, and that both deterrence and culpability turn on the intent of the defendant. Such a theory forecasts the unconstitutionality of executing any person, including an actual killer, who did not intend to kill. A constitutional theory which would receive a favorable hearing from one half of the United States Supreme Court [10] is a matter of serious concern. It was and remains our duty to construe the 1978 death penalty initiative to avoid the risk that it will be declared unconstitutional under that theory. In short, Carlos was correctly decided in 1983, and its reasoning, unimpaired by future cases, should govern today. It is disingenous to claim that a passing remark in Cabana v. Bullock and a mistaken footnote in Tison v. Arizona justify reconsideration of that decision.