Opinion ID: 1205096
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Prior Conviction of Voluntary Manslaughter

Text: As described above, during the penalty phase the prosecution introduced evidence of the facts underlying defendant's prior conviction of voluntary manslaughter. (ง 192, subd. (a).) Testimony by Officer Tak showed that the victim, Vernon Hood, had been shot once in the head and once in the back. Defendant's parole officer testified that defendant was released from San Quentin prison on June 25, 1986, and reported to Moore once, on June 26, 1986, to be advised of the terms and conditions of his parole. Defendant contends that this evidence was highly prejudicial to him. He further contends that its admission violated section 190.3 and denied him due process and equal protection of law as well as constitutional protections against double jeopardy and unreliable penalty determination. (33) First, he argues that, on the evidence presented, the prior conviction of voluntary manslaughter constituted an implied acquittal of murder. He reasons that the evidence was, therefore, barred by section 190.3, which provides that irrespective of the evidence of other criminal activity that is admissible at the penalty phase of a capital trial, evidence of prior criminal activity for an offense of which the defendant was prosecuted and acquitted is inadmissible. The trial court permitted the prosecutor to present the facts of the prior conviction, but not to argue that the evidence established any of the elements of murder. Defendant contends that admission of testimony concerning the facts underlying a prior conviction necessarily entails admitting at least some evidence of the original, greater charge. Thus, he argues, the jury will prejudicially consider him guilty of the greater crime of murder, of which he was impliedly acquitted. Defendant's argument is flawed as a factual matter: defendant was not acquitted, either expressly or impliedly, of the murder of Vernon Hood, since the information filed in the earlier proceedings charged only manslaughter. Defendant notes that the complaint filed in municipal court charged him with the murder of Vernon Hood rather than voluntary manslaughter, and argues that the facts of the underlying case could have been construed as supporting a murder conviction. In this case, however, the prosecutor never suggested that the jury should consider the killing of Vernon Hood as the equivalent of murder, nor was the jury instructed it could do so. Rather, the jury was instructed on the elements of voluntary manslaughter and was told that before it could consider the killing of Vernon Hood as an aggravating circumstance, it must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant did in fact commit that crime. The jury was also instructed that the only aggravating factors it could consider were those listed in the instructions. Thus, we find it improbable that the jury could have made improper use of the evidence as defendant speculates. We have also rejected the premises underlying defendant's claim as a matter of law. (34) In People v. Melton (1988) 44 Cal.3d 713 [244 Cal. Rptr. 867, 750 P.2d 741], we held that section 190.3, factor (b), allowed proof of any violent criminal activity regardless of whether it led to prosecution and conviction, except as to offenses of which the defendant was acquitted. We emphasized that no specific elements are at issue under section 190.3, factor (b), except that some violent criminal offense must exist. (At pp. 754-755.) We are, therefore, unpersuaded by defendant's contention that he was prejudiced by the introduction of evidence that might have established an element of a charge that he never faced in the prior trial and that was never argued in the present one. (35) We have likewise rejected identical double jeopardy claims in earlier decisions. In People v. Visciotti (1992) 2 Cal.4th 1 [5 Cal. Rptr.2d 495, 825 P.2d 388], we reasoned that [t]he presentation of evidence of past criminal conduct at a sentencing hearing does not place the defendant in jeopardy with respect to the past offenses. He is not on trial for the past offense, is not subject to conviction or punishment for the past offense, and may not claim either speedy trial or double jeopardy protection against introduction of such evidence. [Citation.] ( Id. at p. 71; see also People v. Douglas (1990) 50 Cal.3d 468, 528 [268 Cal. Rptr. 126, 788 P.2d 640]; People v. Melton, supra, 44 Cal.3d at pp. 754-755.) Defendant cites People v. Sheldon (1989) 48 Cal.3d 935 [258 Cal. Rptr. 242, 771 P.2d 1330] ( Sheldon ) and Grady v. Corbin (1990) 495 U.S. 508 [109 L.Ed.2d 548, 110 S.Ct. 2084] ( Corbin ), in support of his contention that admission of the evidence underlying his prior manslaughter conviction violated double jeopardy principles. Both cases are distinguishable from this one. In Sheldon, a case involving a straightforward application of section 190.3, we held that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of an attempted murder of which defendant had been formally acquitted, and in instructing the jury on attempted murder; we rejected the People's argument that the evidence of attempted murder might have established a lesser crime. ( Sheldon, supra, 48 Cal.3d at p. 951.) In Corbin, the high court held that the double jeopardy clause bars a subsequent prosecution if, to establish an essential element of an offense charged in that prosecution, the government will prove conduct that constitutes an offense for which the defendant has already been prosecuted. ( Corbin, supra, 495 U.S. at p. 510 [109 L.Ed.2d at p. 557].) [13] As defendant was not prosecuted in the penalty phase for the conduct on which his prior conviction was predicated ( People v. Visciotti, supra, 2 Cal.4th at p. 71), Corbin has no application to this case. (36) Defendant also complains that the prosecution was able to hone the evidence underlying the manslaughter conviction, and to present only that most favorable to the prosecution (the fact that the victim was shot in the back of the head and the back), while omitting the weaker aspects of the case (the assertedly suspect credibility of unidentified prosecution witnesses). However, defendant cites no authority requiring the prosecution to present all the evidence it adduced in the prior trial when it seeks to establish a prior violent crime under section 190.3, factor (b), and we are aware of none. In any event, defendant presented evidence tending to extenuate the gravity of the killing of Vernon Hood. We see no deprivation of due process on these facts, and defendant has not established that the procedures employed in this case offend the Eighth Amendment's aim of protecting reliability in capital sentencing. (37) Defendant contends that in light of People v. Guerrero (1988) 44 Cal.3d 343 [243 Cal. Rptr. 688, 748 P.2d 1150] ( Guerrero ), admission of evidence of the prior manslaughter conviction denied him equal protection of the law and reliability in capital sentencing procedures. Guerrero dealt with the extent to which the record of a prior conviction may be introduced in support of a sentence enhancement under sections 667 and 1192.7; we concluded that the trier of fact may look to the entire record of the conviction to determine the nature of the prior offense, but may not relitigate the facts behind the record. ( People v. Guerrero, supra, 44 Cal.3d at pp. 348-355.) In People v. McDowell (1988) 46 Cal.3d 551, 568 [250 Cal. Rptr. 530, 758 P.2d 1060], however, we distinguished sentence enhancement cases from penalty determinations in capital cases. Although we did not expressly mention Guerrero, we reasoned that in ordinary sentence enhancement cases it is the fact of the conviction itself that authorizes the enhancement, as opposed to the aggravating circumstances surrounding the offense. ( McDowell, supra, 46 Cal.3d at p. 568.) We also observed that although the enhancement statutes authorize only evidence of the crime rather than the conduct of the defendant, section 190.3 focuses on defendant's conduct. ( Ibid. ) Capital defendants are thus situated differently from defendants subject to sentence enhancements, and no equal protection violation occurs when they are treated differently. Nor was defendant denied due process or reliable sentencing procedures by the introduction of evidence of the circumstances of defendant's prior crimes. [14] For all of the preceding reasons, introduction of evidence pertaining to defendant's prior manslaughter conviction complied with section 190.3 and state and federal constitutional guarantees. (38) Defendant contends that the trial court erred in admitting evidence that he spent five years in prison on the manslaughter conviction and that he committed the crimes of which he was convicted in the present case six days after his release from San Quentin. That evidence, he argues, relates to no statutory aggravating factor and should therefore have been excluded. ( People v. Boyd (1985) 38 Cal.3d 762, 771-776 [215 Cal. Rptr. 1, 700 P.2d 782].) The People contend he waived the issue by not objecting on this ground at trial. Our review of the record discloses that defense counsel objected only to admission of the facts underlying the manslaughter conviction, and to that only on the grounds of collateral estoppel and undue consumption of time under Evidence Code section 352. Consequently, he has failed to preserve the issue for review. ( People v. Benson (1990) 52 Cal.3d 754, 788 [276 Cal. Rptr. 827, 802 P.2d 330].) (39) Even if we were to reach the merits of the issue, however, we would find no error. The prosecutor argued the aggravating nature of these facts in the context of the circumstances of the present crimes. (ง 190.3, factor (a); see People v. Turner (1990) 50 Cal.3d 668, 713-714 [268 Cal. Rptr. 706, 789 P.2d 887].) That defendant committed these crimes only six days after his release from prison on a prior homicide conviction supports the inference that incarceration had failed to change his violent character. The jury could properly consider this inference in determining his sentence. ( People v. Turner, supra, 50 Cal.3d at p. 714.) [15]