Opinion ID: 1399120
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Reliability of Penalty

Text: (51) Finally, defendant complains that the process by which he was sentenced to death was arbitrary and unreliable, violating the Eighth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. In essence, he argues that the prosecutor acted arbitrarily in seeking the death penalty against him rather than Brian Buckley, and that a conviction and sentence based largely on the bargained-for testimony of a coperpetrator is constitutionally unreliable and cannot stand. He also reiterates his claims that various errors occurring in both phases of trial undermined the validity of his sentence. We have rejected his claims of prejudicial error elsewhere in this opinion. We here reject defendant's contention that the disparity between his sentence and Buckley's, in itself, or the fact that Buckley testified pursuant to agreement, reflects an arbitrary application of the law. That Buckley received a lesser sentence cannot mitigate the gravity of defendant's wrongdoing. ( People v. Belmontes, supra, 45 Cal.3d at pp. 811-812.) The jury in this case heard the evidence of defendant's crimes and determined that in light of his background and his role in the murder of Thomas Urell death was the appropriate penalty. He received the individualized consideration guaranteed him by the Eighth Amendment. We find no constitutional infirmity in the process by which his sentence was imposed.