Opinion ID: 1199062
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Trial Court's Failure to Give Accomplice Instructions

Text: Defendant contends that the trial court erred in failing to give accomplice instructions. As noted earlier, Sandra B. testified at the penalty phase. She had been charged in the same complaint as defendant and for the same offenses, with the exception of the special circumstances allegation. She testified at the penalty phase to the circumstances surrounding defendant's arrests in 1981 and 1983 for child abuse, as well as to the subsequent circumstances culminating in James's death. The trial court did not instruct the jury that Sandra B. was an accomplice whose testimony should be corroborated and viewed with distrust. (See CALJIC Nos. 3.11, 3.12, 3.16, 3.18 (4th ed. 1979 rev.).) The court did, however, instruct the jury that testimony by a single witness should be carefully reviewed but would be sufficient to prove a fact (CALJIC No. 2.27 (4th ed. 1979 rev.)), and earlier, at the guilt phase, the court instructed the jury not to speculate as to why another person involved in the crime (Sandra) was not being prosecuted in this trial (CALJIC No. 2.11.5). (32) Defendant contends that the trial court erred in failing to instruct on its own motion that if Sandra B. was an accomplice her testimony should be viewed with distrust, and that her testimony must be corroborated. (See § 1111.) We agree. When the prosecution calls an accomplice as a witness, the trial court must instruct the jury that the witness's testimony should be viewed with distrust. ( People v. Williams (1988) 45 Cal.3d 1268, 1314 [756 P.2d 221].) This rule applies to both the penalty and the guilt phases of a death penalty case. (See People v. Miranda, supra, 44 Cal.3d at p. 100.) In addition, when the prosecution seeks to introduce evidence of the defendant's unadjudicated prior criminal conduct, the jury should be instructed at the penalty phase that accomplice testimony must be corroborated. ( People v. Easley (1988) 46 Cal.3d 712, 734 [250 Cal. Rptr. 855, 759 P.2d 490].) In this case, the trial court's failure to instruct the jury that it should view Sandra B.'s testimony with distrust did not prejudice defendant. From the evidence presented, it must have been apparent to the jury that Sandra had a motive for inculpating defendant and exculpating herself. The jury was told that Sandra was a participant in the events leading to James's killing; that both she and defendant were charged with murder based on the same events; that her case was trailing defendant's; and that her case might be decided by the court, rather than a jury, based on the record of the proceedings in this case. Moreover, in his closing argument to the jury, the prosecutor said he did not believe that everything Sandra had said was true, and it would be for the jury to determine her credibility. Under these circumstances, it is not reasonably possible that the jury would have reached a result more favorable to defendant had it been instructed to view Sandra's testimony with distrust. ( People v. Edwards, supra, 54 Cal.3d at pp. 843-844; see People v. Gordon (1973) 10 Cal.3d 460, 472-473 [110 Cal. Rptr. 906, 516 P.2d 298]; People v. Dail (1943) 22 Cal.2d 642, 659 [140 P.2d 828].) (33) Similarly nonprejudicial was the trial court's failure to instruct the jury that accomplice testimony must be corroborated. Failure to do so is harmless when there is sufficient corroborating evidence in the record. ( People v. Miranda, supra, 44 Cal.3d at p. 100.) Here, where the evidence tending to connect defendant to the crime was overwhelming, there was ample corroboration. Sandra B.'s testimony was corroborated by other witnesses at the guilt phase, and by the physical evidence linking defendant to the crimes. Under these circumstances, the error did not result in an arbitrary or capricious judgment violative of the defendant's rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the federal Constitution. (34) Equally unavailing is defendant's argument that the challenged failure to instruct was prejudicial because of the trial court's instruction at the penalty phase that the testimony of one witness was sufficient to prove a fact (CALJIC No. 2.27 (4th ed. 1979 rev.)), and because of the court's previous instruction at the guilt phase that the jury should not speculate whether the other person involved in the crime (Sandra) had been or would be prosecuted (CALJIC No. 2.11.5). In this case, CALJIC No. 2.27 (4th ed. 1979 rev.) was not likely to mislead the jurors. (See People v Williams, supra, 45 Cal.3d at p. 1313.) By the time Sandra B. testified and the jury was given CALJIC No. 2.27, the jury had already found that defendant was guilty of first degree murder, that he was the actual killer, and that the murder was accomplished by means of torture. (See People v. Easley, supra, 46 Cal.3d at p. 734.) Thus, Sandra's testimony at the penalty phase that defendant was the primary perpetrator of James's killing was cumulative of what the jury had already found to be true at the guilt phase, at which Sandra did not testify. With respect to CALJIC No. 2.11.5 (4th ed. 1979), the giving of that instruction at the guilt phase could not have been prejudicial at the penalty phase. The jury was told at the penalty phase that Sandra B. was also charged with murder, that her case was trailing defendant's, and that her criminal liability might be decided by the court without a jury based on the record of this trial. [12]