Opinion ID: 1180863
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Adequacy of sanity phase argument

Text: (49) Defendant asserts trial counsel should have argued at length during the sanity phase of the trial. The sanity phase was submitted on the basis of the record and evidence presented at the guilt phase; no additional evidence was introduced. The evidence that trial counsel presented during the guilt phase spanned approximately seven weeks and covered more than 3,100 pages. Furthermore, trial counsel's guilt phase closing argument ran seven and one-half hours in length. At the sanity phase, trial counsel argued to the jury as follows: Thank you. Just a few very brief things to say. Unlike the first phase of this trial where the burden was entirely upon the People to prove each fact and each issue beyond a reasonable doubt, [in] the second phase of the trial, the burden is on us to prove the issue of insanity [by] a preponderance of the evidence. That is much less than beyond a reasonable doubt, the burden the People had in the first phase, and the Court will explain to you in [the] instructions exactly what it is. [¶] You have now heard during the first phase all of the evidence that we had to present. You have heard all the arguments that we had to present to you and it is our request now that you consider the issues presented to you and the evidence presented to you at the first phase in considering the special instructions the judge is going to give you on insanity. Thank you. On this record, we cannot agree that counsel's decision not to reiterate the extensive guilt phase arguments constituted ineffective assistance.