Opinion ID: 1801755
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jury instructions related to defendant's prior conviction

Text: Defendant contends the trial court's instruction concerning consideration of evidence of defendant's conviction of the forcible rape of Christa B. failed to inform the jury that it could not consider evidence of any other criminal activity as an aggravating factor under section 190.3, factor (c)which concerns only convictions and thereby violated his rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Evidence was presented that defendant committed various criminal acts against Christa B. (the acquaintance whom he assaulted) and Debra G. (defendant's former girlfriend whom he assaulted), and that defendant was convicted of the forcible rape of Christa B. (See § 190.3, factors (b), (c) [in determining the penalty, the trier of fact shall take into account any criminal activity that involved the use of force or violence, and any prior felony conviction].) With respect to the conviction of forcible rape, which was relevant to factor (c) of section 190.3, the trial court gave a modified version of CALJIC No. 8.86: Evidence has been introduced for the purpose of showing that the defendant has been convicted of the crime of forcible rape, 261 of the Penal Code, prior to the offense of murder of the first degree of which he has been found guilty in this case. [¶] Before you may consider such alleged crime as an aggravating circumstance in this case, you must first be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was in fact convicted of such prior crime. The trial court did not read the final sentence of the standard version of CALJIC No. 8.86: You may not consider any evidence of any other crime as an aggravating circumstance. [40] Next, the trial court instructed the jury concerning evidence of other criminal acts allegedly committed by defendant against Christa B. and Debra G., which were relevant to factor (b) of section 190.3. The trial court read a modified version of CALJIC No. 8.87, which identified the various alleged criminal acts, and instructed that [b]efore a juror may consider any criminal acts or activity as an aggravating circumstance in this case, a juror must first be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant ... did in fact commit the criminal acts or activity. A juror may not consider any evidence of any other criminal acts as an aggravating circumstance. [¶] ... If any juror is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the criminal activity occurred, that juror may consider that activity as a fact in aggravation. If a juror is not so convinced, that juror must not consider that evidence for any purpose. [41] In assessing the instruction to determine whether the jury was adequately guided under the Eighth or Fourteenth Amendment, we look to whether it is reasonably likely the jury understood the instruction and correctly applied it. ( Maury, supra, 30 Cal.4th at p. 443.) The two instructions informed the jurors that (1) before a juror could consider evidence that defendant was convicted of forcible rape, the juror had to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was in fact convicted of forcible rape, (2) before a juror could consider evidence that defendant had committed various violent criminal acts against Christa B. and Debra G., the juror had to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant did in fact commit the criminal acts or activity, and (3) a juror could not consider any evidence of any other criminal acts as an aggravating circumstance. Defendant asserts that the instructions failed to inform the jury that under factor (c) of section 190.3, the jury could consider only defendant's prior conviction for forcible rape against Christa B., and could not consider any evidence of other crimes or criminal activity, such as his criminal actions with respect to Christa B. and Debra G., for which he was not convicted of any crime. We do not discern how a juror could conclude from these instructions that evidence of such other criminal activity could be viewed as aggravating evidence under factor (c). The instruction that related to factor (c)modified CALJIC No. 8.86referred only to evidence of a conviction of forcible rape. As the trial court observed, in light of the circumstance that it would be instructing the jury concerning evidence of other criminal activity as an aggravating circumstance, it would have been confusing to instruct the jury, in connection with its instruction concerning evidence of convictions, that it could not consider evidence of any other crime as an aggravating circumstance. Moreover, the only evidence presented at trial of a prior conviction was the conviction for the forcible rape of Christa B. No reasonable juror could have concluded that the evidence of other criminal activity committed against Christa B. and Debra G. could establish beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was convicted of the alleged criminal acts, and therefore constituted aggravating evidence of a prior conviction under factor (c). Therefore, we conclude it is not reasonably likely that the jury misunderstood the instructions concerning other criminal acts or incorrectly applied them. ( Maury, supra, 30 Cal.4th at p. 443.)