Opinion ID: 2640086
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Validity of Death Penalty Law

Text: Defendant contends the death penalty law under which he was sentenced denied him due process and a fair penalty determination under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution, and under parallel provisions of the state Constitution. We have previously rejected similar claims and do so again here. Thus, the homicide and death penalty statutes adequately narrow the class of first degree murderers eligible for the death penalty. The scheme is not overbroad because of the sheer number, nature, and scope of the special circumstances, including the lying-in-wait and financial-gain special circumstances applied here. ( Stitely, supra, 35 Cal.4th 514, 573, and cases cited therein.) Nor did the trial court err in failing to instruct that the standard of proof for finding aggravating factors must be beyond a reasonable doubt, or that the jury must unanimously agree on this issue. High court decisions in Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) 530 U.S. 466 [147 L.Ed.2d 435, 120 S.Ct. 2348], and Ring v. Arizona (2002) 536 U.S. 584 [153 L.Ed.2d 556, 122 S.Ct. 2428], have not changed our conclusions in this regard. ( Boyer, supra, 38 Cal.4th 412, 485, and cases cited therein.)