Opinion ID: 2614001
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Causal relationship between torture and death

Text: (27) Defendant contends the prosecution failed to establish a causal relationship between the acts of torture and death. (See People v. Bittaker, supra, 48 Cal.3d 1046, 1101-1102 [declining to decide the issue].) Defendant is mistaken as to the nature of the proof necessary to establish the presence of torture so as to justify a finding of the torture-murder special circumstance. Section 190.2, subdivision (a)(18), provides for this special circumstance where [t]he murder was intentional and involved the infliction of torture.  (Italics added.) Unlike section 189, which defines the crime of first degree torture murder as murder perpetrated by means of ... torture, thereby positing the requirement of a causal relationship between the torturous act and death ( People v. Proctor, supra, 4 Cal.4th 499, 530; People v. Pensinger, supra, 52 Cal.3d 1210, 1239; see People v. Davenport, supra, 41 Cal.3d 247, 267), section 190.2, subdivision (a)(18), does not by its terms require such a causal relationship. ( People v. Hoban (1985) 176 Cal. App.3d 255, 264 [221 Cal. Rptr. 626]; cf. People v. Pensinger, supra, 52 Cal.3d 1210, 1239 [§ 189 requires causation, because that statute defines torture murder as murder by means of torture].) Because other types of murder, such as premeditated murder, also are defined as murder of the first degree, we believe the Legislature, by employing the broader language of section 190.2, subdivision (a)(18), intended to encompass (within the torture-murder special circumstance) acts of torture occurring within a larger time frame, including those that would not have caused death. ( Ibid. ) [15] We conclude the prosecution was not required to prove that the acts of torture inflicted upon William were the cause of his death. Therefore, we also reject defendant's related contention that the special circumstance instruction on torture improperly failed to require that there be a causal relationship between the torture and the victim's death.