Opinion ID: 1129438
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Other-crimes Instructions

Text: At the penalty phase, the People introduced evidence disclosing that defendant was convicted of burglary in 1979, and robbery (two counts) in 1981. With respect to the robbery, the People introduced testimony regarding the surrounding circumstances, including defendant's assaults upon the store owner and his pregnant wife. In addition, during the guilt phase, cellmate Samuelson testified that defendant, while the men were in jail, had solicited him to murder Racquel Cardenas and Patricia Flores testified that defendant, a few days after Winchell's murder, had made threatening gestures toward Flores with a hammer, telling her he would take care of her if her fiance asked him to do so. (The prosecutor did not rely on either the Samuelson or Flores testimony as an aggravating circumstance at the penalty phase, although he did mention the hammer incident in his closing argument.) (31a), (32a) Defendant now contends the court erred in failing to instruct the jury that it should not consider these various prior offenses unless it found beyond a reasonable doubt they were committed. ( People v. Robertson, supra, 33 Cal.3d 21, 54.) (31b) With respect to the burglary and robbery, the People observe that the Robertson instruction need not be given where defendant already has been convicted of the prior offense. (See People v. Gates (1987) 43 Cal.3d 1168, 1202 [240 Cal. Rptr. 666, 743 P.2d 301].) Defendant correctly points out, however, that here the evidence extended beyond the mere fact of conviction of robbery, and included testimony regarding defendant's assault on the robbery victims. As noted in Gates, 33 Cal.3d at page 1202, footnote 13, a Robertson instruction should be given where the penalty phase evidence discloses a crime in addition to the one of which the defendant was convicted. Assuming that Robertson instruction should have been given, it is very doubtful that defendant was prejudiced by the omission. The assaults involved were relatively minor, involving no serious or permanent injuries to either victim. Moreover, the victims' testimony was uncontradicted and unimpeached. (See Gates, at p. 1202 [finding harmless error under similar circumstances]; People v. Miranda (1987) 44 Cal.3d 57, 97-98 [241 Cal. Rptr. 594, 744 P.2d 1127] [same].) (32b) As for the Samuelson and Flores guilt phase testimony, although such evidence indeed may have indicated that defendant had committed prior crimes, the evidence was admitted for other reasons and was not relied on by the prosecutor as an aggravating factor supporting the death penalty. Accordingly, Robertson is inapplicable to such testimony. (See People v. Robertson, supra, 33 Cal.3d at p. 60 [conc. opn. by Broussard, J.]; People v. Williams (1988) 44 Cal.3d 1127, 1146-1147 [245 Cal. Rptr. 635 [751 P.2d 901].) Additionally, the Flores testimony involved defendant's acts and statements shortly after the Winchell murder, and may have been admissible as a circumstance surrounding that offense (§ 190.3, subd. (a)). Thus, the prosecutor's reference to that testimony in his penalty phase argument did not invoke Robertson. (31c), (32c) We conclude that the failure to give the reasonable doubt instruction with respect to defendant's other crimes was, at worst, harmless error.