Opinion ID: 1442039
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: Argument Regarding Victims' Terror

Text: During closing argument the prosecutor stated: We spent time trying to describe the assaults and the attacks on Miss Vasquez, Miss Coleman, Holman, Holmes, Lott, but these are all words. [¶] I presented you with pictures, I tried to get witnesses to describe the terror, the feeling they had when that man decided, for whatever reason, to violate them, but they are just words, and Mr. Veale in a grand way asked you well, let's take off the mantle, let's show you Freddie Taylor. (11) Defendant contends that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the request that the jury focus on the victims' terror. He contends it was irrelevant to any aggravating factor listed in section 190.3 and that it was in violation of Booth v. Maryland (1987) 482 U.S. 496 [96 L.Ed.2d 440, 107 S.Ct. 2529]. We disagree. There was nothing improper about this argument. The principles set forth in Booth v. Maryland, supra, 482 U.S. 496, and South Carolina v. Gathers (1989) 490 U.S. 805 [104 L.Ed.2d 876, 109 S.Ct. 2207] do not extend to evidence or argument concerning the nature and circumstances of the capital offense or the effect of that offense on the victim. The reason is plain: that information is uniquely relevant to the life-or-death decision and, as such, does not create a constitutionally unacceptable risk of arbitrary or capricious sentencing.... [Nor do] Booth and Gathers ... extend to evidence or argument relating to the nature and circumstances of other criminal activity ... or the effect of such criminal activity on the victims: in our view, that information is highly relevant to the life-or-death decision. ( People v. Benson, post, 754 at p. 797 [276 Cal. Rptr. 827, 802 P.2d 330].)