Opinion ID: 1377787
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of Reasonable-Doubt Standard to Penalty Selection

Text: (40) Defendant next contends that the judgment must be reversed because the jury was not instructed that it must find beyond a reasonable doubt that death was the appropriate penalty. We reject that claim. The trial court properly instructed the jury that the People had no burden of proof. We are satisfied that the instructions now given to the jury regarding its obligation to consider any mitigating evidence proffered by a capital defendant are adequate to impress the jurors with the high degree of certainty a juror should have before voting to impose the death penalty. Since the decision is a normative judgment reflecting the juror's individual moral assessment of the defendant's culpability (see People v. Allen, supra, 42 Cal.3d 1222, 1287), application of a reasonable-doubt standard is neither appropriate nor constitutionally compelled. (See also, People v. Miranda, supra, 44 Cal.3d 57, 107; People v. Rodriguez, supra, 42 Cal.3d 730, 777-779.)