Opinion ID: 1801839
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Comparison of Challenges for Cause

Text: Defendant contends the prosecutor's discriminatory motive is circumstantially demonstrated by his differing approaches to challenges for cause. Prospective Juror D.C., an African-American man, gave several questionnaire answers indicating he would have difficulty considering the sentence of life without possibility of parole for a murder with special circumstances, and he was only partly rehabilitated on voir dire. The prosecutor challenged him for cause and maintained that position (successfully) even after defendant objected to D.C.'s excusal. Defendant draws a contrast to the prosecutor's later treatment of Juror No. 7 (discussed in pt. IV, ante ), a White juror who also indicated on one questionnaire question (No. 84) that he would vote automatically for death and who was not rehabilitated on voir dire. The prosecutor initially offered to stipulate to Juror No. 7's excusal (which had been suggested by the court) but withdrew the stipulation when defendant objected to the juror's excusal. The two men's responses were not, however, as comparable as defendant suggests. D.C. indicated his feelings about the death penalty were very strong and he believed in the saying, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; Juror No. 7 gave the opposite answers to both these questions. On question No. 76, asking whether one should hear all of the circumstances concerning the defendant and his background before deciding penalty, D.C. checked no and wrote, As long as you know he or she knows right from wrong and had a choice, while Juror No. 7 checked yes and wrote that one cannot reach a verdict without full knowledge. On question No. 82 (asking which category best reflected the respondent's feelings about the death penalty for someone convicted of first degree murder in the course of a residential robbery and burglary), D.C. checked Automatically vote for the death penalty, while Juror No. 7 checked Neither favor nor oppose the death penalty. It was primarily on the basis of D.C.'s answer to question No. 82 that the prosecutor argued he should be excused, observing: Every other person that checked automatic, on number 82, vote for death penalty, we have excused. We note as well that D.C. was the first death-leaning prospective juror whom defendant (representing himself) argued, seemingly against his own interests, should be retained; Juror No. 7 was the second. Although the prosecutor excused D.C. as one who would automatically vote for the death penalty, by the time Juror No. 7 was considered the prosecutor may have decided not to stand in the way of what appeared to be a strategic error on defendant's part. By offering to stipulate to Juror No. 7's excusal, the prosecutor protected himself and the People from being blamed for any error in the juror's retention, but he may have felt that if defendant was going to repeatedly insist on retaining death-leaning jurors, the People need not actively oppose that effort. Finally, defendant notes the prosecutor stipulated to excusal of an African-American prospective juror with hearing problems, while a White juror who noted some hearing difficulty on her questionnaire was retained. The excused prospective juror, however, said in voir dire that she had been unable to hear anything defendant (who spoke softly) had said during the proceedings, leading both parties to stipulate to her excusal. Defendant cites nothing in the record indicating the retained juror's hearing difficulty was comparably severe or affected her ability to serve in the same way.
Defendant's jury was instructed in the penalty phase with CALJIC No. 8.85, giving the jury the statutory list of possible factors in aggravation and mitigation it could consider (§ 190.3), and with CALJIC No. 8.88, the standard instruction explaining the process of weighing these factors and arriving at the appropriate penalty. Although defendant challenges these instructions on a number of constitutional grounds, we have previously entertained and rejected all of his claims of unconstitutionality, and he does not persuade us to reexamine those decisions. Factor (a) of section 190.3, which permits the jury to consider the circumstances of the capital crime, does not inject arbitrariness or capriciousness into the penalty decision. ( People v. Brasure (2008) 42 Cal.4th 1037, 1066 [71 Cal.Rptr.3d 675, 175 P.3d 632]; People v. Alfaro (2007) 41 Cal.4th 1277, 1330-1331 [63 Cal.Rptr.3d 433, 163 P.3d 118].) It was, therefore, not constitutional error to so instruct the jury. The trial court did not constitutionally err in failing to require unanimous jury agreement on defendant's commission of violent crimes considered under factor (b) of section 190.3. Where each juror may rely on such criminal activity as an aggravating factor only if the juror finds defendant's commission of the crime has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and the jury must unanimously agree that death is the appropriate penalty, neither the Sixth nor the Eighth Amendment to the federal Constitution requires that the jury also unanimously agree on the application of factor (b) or any other factor in aggravation. ( People v. Brasure, supra, 42 Cal.4th at pp. 1067-1068; People v. Zambrano (2007) 41 Cal.4th 1082, 1181-1182 [63 Cal.Rptr.3d 297, 163 P.3d 4]; People v. Miranda (1987) 44 Cal.3d 57, 99 [241 Cal.Rptr. 594, 744 P.2d 1127].) Similarly, written findings on factors in aggravation are not constitutionally required, even though in noncapital cases the court must state reasons for its sentencing choices; the individual normative character of capital jurors' penalty decisions provides a legitimate basis for the use of procedures different from those used in noncapital sentencing. ( Brasure, at p. 1069; People v. Davis (2005) 36 Cal.4th 510, 571-572 [31 Cal.Rptr.3d 96, 115 P.3d 417].) Nor did the court err in failing to delete from its instruction references to assertedly inapplicable factors listed in section 190.3 or to specify which factors may be considered only in mitigation. ( People v. Brasure, supra, 42 Cal.4th at p. 1069.) The use of the limiting adjectives extreme and substantial in the instruction on section 190.3, factors (d) and (g) does not unconstitutionally prevent the jury from considering mitigating evidence. ( Brasure, at p. 1069.)
Defendant contends our death penalty statute violates the Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution in failing to require jurors to find beyond a reasonable doubt that aggravating circumstances are proved, that they outweigh the mitigating circumstances, and that death is the appropriate penalty. We have previously rejected these contentions, including those based on Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) 530 U.S. 466 [147 L.Ed.2d 435, 120 S.Ct. 2348] and its progeny. ( People v. Brasure, supra, 42 Cal.4th at pp. 1067-1068; People v. Alfaro, supra, 41 Cal.4th at p. 1331; People v. Snow (2003) 30 Cal.4th 43, 126, fn. 32 [132 Cal.Rptr.2d 271, 65 P.3d 749].) The trial court also did not err in failing to tell the jury the People bore the burden of proof on penalty or, alternatively, that no burden of proof is applicable. ( Alfaro, at p. 1331; People v. Dunkle (2005) 36 Cal.4th 861, 939 [32 Cal.Rptr.3d 23, 116 P.3d 494].) No instruction on a presumption that the sentence should be life without parole, rather than death, was constitutionally required. ( Brasure, at p. 1069; Dunkle, at p. 940.)
Defendant assigns several constitutional flaws to CALJIC No. 8.88's command to jurors that [t]o return a judgment of death, each of you must be persuaded that the aggravating circumstances are so substantial in comparison with the mitigating circumstances that it warrants death instead of life without parole, but we have previously rejected his claims in this regard. The instruction's reference to aggravation substantial[ly] outweighing mitigation is not impermissibly vague; nor is the instruction misleading in permitting a death verdict when the jurors find that sentence warrant[ed]. By advising that a death verdict should be returned only if aggravation is `so substantial in comparison with' mitigation that death is `warranted,' the instruction clearly admonishes the jury to determine whether the balance of aggravation and mitigation makes death the appropriate penalty. ( People v. Arias (1996) 13 Cal.4th 92, 171 [51 Cal.Rptr.2d 770, 913 P.2d 980]; accord, People v. Perry (2006) 38 Cal.4th 302, 320 [42 Cal.Rptr.3d 30, 132 P.3d 235].) Nor is the instruction deficient in failing to expressly tell jurors they must return a verdict of life without possibility of parole if mitigation outweighs aggravation; that principle is clearly implicit in the standard instruction. ( Perry, at p. 320.) And, as already noted, the instruction was also not deficient in failing to state that neither party bore the burden of proving whether death was the appropriate penalty. ( People v. Dunkle, supra, 36 Cal.4th at p. 939.)
Comparative intercase proportionality review of death sentences is not constitutionally required. ( People v. Brasure, supra, 42 Cal.4th at p. 1068; People v. Snow, supra, 30 Cal.4th at p. 126.) Defendant argues federal and state court holdings to this effect should be reevaluated in light of his contentions that the California death penalty statute lacks other constitutionally necessary safeguards against arbitrary imposition. But as noted in parts VI through VIII, ante, we have consistently rejected these constitutional claims as well.
California's use of capital punishment as an authorized sentence for certain specified types of first degree murder does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment merely because most nations have chosen not to employ the death penalty at all. ( People v. Brasure, supra, 42 Cal.4th at pp. 1071-1072; People v. Demetrulias (2006) 39 Cal.4th 1, 43-44 [45 Cal.Rptr.3d 407, 137 P.3d 229].) Nor does our statute violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. ( Brasure, at p. 1072; People v. Turner (2004) 34 Cal.4th 406, 439-440 [20 Cal.Rptr.3d 182, 99 P.3d 505].)
Defendant contends that even if none of the errors he has identified was independently prejudicial, their combined effect requires reversal of his conviction and sentence. Having found no unwaived error on the trial court's part, however, we can discern no cumulative prejudice.