Opinion ID: 1425642
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Jury Unanimity Regarding Uncharged Crimes

Text: The trial court gave CALJIC No. 8.84.1.2, which provides in pertinent part: Before you may consider any such [uncharged] criminal acts as an aggravating circumstance in this case, you must first be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did in fact commit such criminal acts. Defendant concedes the instruction was proper; he contends, however, that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury, sua sponte, that it could consider such acts as aggravating circumstances only if it unanimously found that the crimes were proven beyond a reasonable doubt. We have considered and rejected this identical argument (see, e.g., People v. Ghent, supra, 43 Cal.3d at pp. 773-774) and have no occasion to reconsider it here.