Opinion ID: 2509517
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence of Prison Conditions

Text: The trial court sustained the prosecutor's objection to defense expert evidence offered to show what occurs in prison and what prison means as a form of punishment. Defendant challenges this ruling. As defendant recognizes, we have in the past held: evidence of the conditions of confinement that a defendant will experience if sentenced to life imprisonment without parole is irrelevant to the jury's penalty determination because it does not relate to the defendant's character, culpability, or the circumstances of the offense. ( People v. Quartermain (1997) 16 Cal.4th 600, 632, 66 Cal.Rptr.2d 609, 941 P.2d 788; see People v. Daniels (1991) 52 Cal.3d 815, 876-878, 277 Cal.Rptr. 122, 802 P.2d 906.) Defendant asks us to reconsider this issue, contending that jurors cannot be precluded from considering any aspect of a defendant's character and record that he offers as a basis for a sentence of less than death. (See People v. Boyd, supra, 38 Cal.3d 762, 775, 215 Cal.Rptr. 1, 700 P.2d 782; People v. Easley, supra, 34 Cal.3d 858, 878, 196 Cal. Rptr. 309, 671 P.2d 813.) But the evidence defendant offered here is not an aspect of his character and record. Contrary to defendant's contention, it is not the law that jurors must be allowed to consider any evidence a defendant offers on the question whether the death penalty is morally appropriate. Evidence is inadmissible if it does not pertain to a defendant's individual character and record, but pertains solely to the death penalty generally, such as how death is inflicted (see People v. Harris (1981) 28 Cal.3d 935, 962, 171 Cal.Rptr. 679, 623 P.2d 240) or to future conditions of confinement for one sentenced to life without possibility of parole (see People v. Daniels, supra, 52 Cal.3d at pp. 877-878, 277 Cal.Rptr. 122, 802 P.2d 906).