Opinion ID: 2649691
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Oral Jury Instruction

Text: ¶111 When instructing the jury, the trial court mistakenly said that if the jury finds that an aggravating circumstance exists but decides life imprisonment is appropriate, the court would “sentence the defendant to either life imprisonment with the possibility of release or life imprisonment with the possibility of release after 35 years.” (Emphasis added.) Forde argues that the trial court’s mistake violated her due process and Eighth Amendment rights. Because Forde did not object at trial, we review for fundamental error. ¶112 The court did not commit fundamental error by saying “with” instead of “without” when reading the instructions. As the judge recited the instructions, the jury read a written copy, which correctly stated that a life sentence would be either without the possibility of release or with the possibility of release after thirty-five years. Also, the court correctly told the jury twice during the same recitation of instructions that Forde’s possible sentences were death or life imprisonment either without the possibility of release or with the possibility of release after thirty-five years. Consequently, and because the contested oral instruction was redundant, the court’s mistake was apparent. Moreover, if the jurors were confused by the oral instruction, they could have referred to the written instructions, which they possessed during deliberations. Finally, the verdict form used in the penalty phase stated that a life sentence would be “with or without the possibility of release.” The trial court’s misreading of the jury instructions did not cause fundamental, prejudicial error. Cf. People v. Mills, 48 Cal. 4th 158, 200 (2010) (“The risk of a discrepancy between the orally delivered and the written instructions exists in every trial, and verdicts are not undermined by the mere fact that the trial court misspoke.”).