Opinion ID: 1202713
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Penal Code Section 190.3, Factor (d).

Text: (29) Defendant contends that Penal Code section 190.3, factor (d) (hereafter section 190.3(d)) is unconstitutional on its face. That provision defines as one of the factors to be considered in determining penalty Whether or not the offense was committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance. Defendant argues that extreme mental or emotional disturbance is properly a factor in mitigation, but that section 190.3(d) impermissibly authorizes the trier of fact to consider it as a factor in aggravation. We are not persuaded: it seems plain that the provision does not authorize the jury to consider the presence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance in aggravation (cf. People v. Jackson (1980) 28 Cal.3d 264, 316 [168 Cal. Rptr. 603, 618 P.2d 149] (plur. opn.) [reasoning that it was quite obvious that former Pen. Code, § 190.3, factor (g), dealing with diminished capacity, authorized the trier of fact to consider the presence of diminished capacity in mitigation but not in aggravation].) Defendant also contends that on the facts of this case the instruction incorporating section 190.3(d) may have led the jury to believe that the presence of extreme mental or emotional distress should be considered in aggravation. We do not agree. The instruction, considered by itself, would not have misled a reasonable juror. Moreover, if the instruction is considered within the context of the penalty phase as a whole, the conclusion is the same. First, there was no other instruction that could have caused the instruction in question to have been understood other than in its proper sense. Second, the testimony of the prosecution and defense experts could not have affected a reasonable juror's understanding of the instruction to defendant's prejudice: the point at issue was whether defendant's undisputed mental illness substantially caused the murder and thereby diminished his culpability. Third, defense counsel's argument made it clear that the presence of extreme mental or emotional distress went to mitigation. It is true that the prosecutor, in his closing argument, at times linked defendant's violence and mental illness in a troubling manner. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, the argument could not reasonably have had a misleading effect: its theme, in the prosecutor's words, was that [defendant] has led a life of violence not related to any mental defect or disorder he has.