Opinion ID: 844275
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Effect of our reversal of the kidnapping conviction and vacation of the kidnapping special circumstance finding upon the penalty

Text: Defendant contends that in the event any of the special circumstances found by the jury is vacated, upholding the judgment of death will deprive him of his right to due process, trial by jury, and to be free from the imposition of cruel and unusual punishment under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and article I, sections 7, 16, and 17 of the California Constitution. (34) We have concluded that the kidnapping conviction must be reversed and the kidnapping special circumstance finding must be vacated, due to instructional error. Three other valid special circumstance findings remain: burglary, robbery, and sodomy. In addition, the facts the jury found in connection with the kidnapping convictiondefendant compelled the victim, through force or fear, to move to the procedure room, and the movement was substantial within the meaning of CALJIC No. 9.50could properly be considered by the jury as circumstances of the burglary, robbery, and sodomy, and of the murder under section 190.3, factor (a). Because the jury was authorized to give aggravating weight to these circumstances, regardless of whether the circumstances constituted kidnapping at the time defendant committed the crimes, our reversal of the kidnapping conviction and our vacation of the kidnapping special circumstance finding do not require reversal of the penalty. (See Brown v. Sanders (2006) 546 U.S. 212, 220 [163 L.Ed.2d 723, 126 S.Ct. 884] [invalidation of a special circumstance finding will not render the penalty unconstitutional if one of the other sentencing factors enables the sentencer to give aggravating weight to the same facts and circumstances]; People v. Lewis (2008) 43 Cal.4th 415, 520 [75 Cal.Rptr.3d 588, 181 P.3d 947].) As in People v. Mungia (2008) 44 Cal.4th 1101 [81 Cal.Rptr.3d 614, 189 P.3d 880], in which we reversed a torture-murder special-circumstance finding, [t]here is no likelihood that the jury's consideration of the mere existence of the [kidnapping] special circumstance tipped the balance toward death. ( Id. at p. 1139.) Similarly, there is no likelihood that the mere existence of the kidnapping conviction tipped the balance toward death. Finally, as we explained in People v. Lewis, supra, at pages 520-522, our finding that the error in the kidnapping jury instruction was harmless with respect to the penalty does not violate the right to a jury determination of any fact that increases the penalty.