Opinion ID: 1391736
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Waiver of Right to Present Mitigating Evidence

Text: (28) Defendant asserts that the judgment of death must be set aside by reason of the failure of the trial court to obtain his personal waiver of the right to present mitigating evidence at the penalty phase of the trial. Defendant takes the position that his trial counsel's submission of the penalty question to the jury without offering any mitigating evidence was tantamount to a concession that death was the proper penalty in this case. Defendant relies, by analogy, on cases which require specific and personal waiver by defendant of his various trial rights on entry of a guilty plea or submission of a case on a transcript which would preclude acquittal. (See Boykin v. Alabama (1969) 395 U.S. 238 [23 L.Ed.2d 274, 89 S.Ct. 1709]; People v. Levey (1973) 8 Cal.3d 648 [105 Cal. Rptr. 516, 504 P.2d 452]; In re Tahl (1969) 1 Cal.3d 122 [81 Cal. Rptr. 577, 460 P.2d 449].) The contention lacks merit. There is no statutory or decisional authority requiring an on-the-record waiver of the right to present evidence at the penalty phase of a trial. We rejected a nearly identical argument in People v. Murphy (1972) 8 Cal.3d 349, 365-366 [105 Cal. Rptr. 138, 503 P.2d 594], where defendant contended that the paucity of witnesses called in his defense at both guilt and penalty phases constituted no defense at all, and was tantamount to a guilty plea requiring the court to obtain a waiver under Boykin-Tahl. As we noted in Murphy, on-the-record waiver principles have no application in trial situations where defense counsel may be expected to advise a defendant of his rights to testify and call witnesses. We have previously discussed and rejected defendant's related contention that his trial counsel was inadequate and incompetent in failing to present mitigating evidence at the penalty phase. For purposes of the present contention, it seems clear that counsel's submission of the case without offering mitigating evidence on the penalty question cannot be viewed as tantamount to any concession that the death penalty was proper. Trial counsel in argument attempted at length to dissuade the jury from imposition of the death penalty. Counsel's lack of success does not alter our conclusion that the effort was vigorous in application and reasonable in concept. Moreover, nothing in the pertinent statutory provisions or in the jury instructions which were given here suggests that a death penalty was required in the event defendant failed to offer any mitigating evidence. (See former § 190.3.) Accordingly, the foregoing authorities relied on by defendant are neither analogous nor controlling. Defense counsel is generally authorized to make tactical decisions regarding the introduction of evidence and to control court proceedings, without the necessity of first obtaining a personal waiver from the client. (See Linsk v. Linsk (1969) 70 Cal.2d 272, 276-278 [74 Cal. Rptr. 544, 449 P.2d 760]; People v. Hill (1967) 67 Cal.2d 105, 114-115 [60 Cal. Rptr. 234, 429 P.2d 586].) It is noteworthy that defendant personally raised no objection whatever to counsel's submission of the case without introducing mitigating evidence, and further that defendant presently does not call our attention to any specific mitigating evidence which was withheld from the jury's consideration. We conclude that defendant's personal waiver was not required under the circumstances in this case.