Opinion ID: 1227864
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Adequacy of Counsel at Penalty Phase

Text: (29) Neither the prosecution nor the defense presented evidence at the penalty phase. Defendant now urges that defense counsel was inadequate for failure to present mitigating evidence. The affidavit of trial counsel in support of the petition for habeas corpus states that he did not proffer evidence at the penalty phase for defendant because he expressly informed me that he didn't want this kind of evidence to be presented. Sympathetic factors that might have been presented, according to trial counsel, include the fact that both of defendant's parents were heavy drinkers; that because of their drinking, he lacked any parental backing or support; that defendant was very close to his father and was very upset when he died; and that defendant was foreclosed from an opportunity to attend college on a football scholarship because his parents were separated and could not afford the additional costs involved. In People v. Deere, supra, 41 Cal.3d 353, we held that the failure of defense counsel to present any mitigating evidence in the penalty phase of a capital trial, in obedience to his client's request, required that the penalty be set aside. Based on our holding in Deere (see also People v. Burgener (1986) 41 Cal.3d 505 [224 Cal. Rptr. 112, 714 P.2d 1251]), we concluded that defendant had made a prima facie case for relief; we issued an order to show cause. In his return to the order, the Attorney General concedes penalty phase error in that trial counsel went along with defendant's request not to put on any evidence at the penalty phase. [17] The parties have waived oral argument on the conceded issue. On the basis of the Attorney General's concession, we grant the petition for habeas corpus, discharge the order to show cause, and reverse the judgment of death. In all other respects the judgment (Crim. 22464) is affirmed. If the People do not elect to retry the issue of penalty, defendant remains sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.