Opinion ID: 1391736
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Constitutionality of 1977 Death Penalty Legislation

Text: Defendant asserts that the 1977 death penalty law under which he was sentenced is unconstitutional. Most of the arguments advanced by defendant were discussed at considerable length in People v. Frierson, supra, 25 Cal.3d 142, 172-188, 191-195, and we do not repeat them here. The bases for the claimed invalidity include: (1) the breadth of the jury's discretion to fix the appropriate penalty; (2) the absence of a requirement that the jury render findings explaining its decision; and (3) the absence of any express statutory provisions requiring proportionality review on appeal. (29) In addition, defendant contends that the 1977 law is constitutionally inadequate in failing to require the existence of at least one aggravating circumstance in order to justify a verdict of death. As explained in Frierson, however, the 1977 law requires the presence of at least one special circumstance which is an aggravating feature setting the case apart from an ordinary murder case. (See id., at pp. 175-179.) Further, the jury is instructed to consider and to be guided by a list of specific aggravating and mitigating circumstances in reaching its decision, a provision equivalent to a requirement that the jury weigh those factors ( id., at p. 180). Thus, the aggravated nature of the offense is considered and weighed by the jury in making its determination. In any event, the record in the present case discloses several aggravating circumstances connected with the two savage murders, including the use of lethal and unusually brutal force against two helpless and elderly ladies, and the vicious sexual abuse of one of them. We observe that defendant has not contended that imposition of the death penalty would constitute disproportionate punishment under the facts of this case. (See id., at pp. 180-184.) Indeed, given the aggravating circumstances referred to above, such a contention would have been frivolous. The dissents of Chief Justice Bird and Justice Mosk would hold the 1977 law unconstitutional on various grounds, most of which were discussed in Frierson, but we respond briefly. The dissents suggest that the 1977 law fails to provide adequate standards to guide the sentencing discretion of the trier of fact. This issue was treated at pages 176-178 of Frierson, where we focused upon the close resemblance of the California statute to the Georgia and Florida laws which were upheld by the United States Supreme Court in Gregg v. Georgia (1976) 428 U.S. 153 [49 L.Ed.2d 859, 96 S.Ct. 2909], and Proffitt v. Florida (1976) 428 U.S. 242 [49 L.Ed.2d 913, 96 S.Ct. 2960]. (30) It is suggested that section 190.3 of the Penal Code, specifying the various aggravating and mitigating factors to be considered by the trier of fact, is invalid in its failure to state expressly which factors are aggravating, and which are mitigating ones. Yet the factors involved (such as the nature of the crime, defendant's prior criminal conduct, the victim's consent or participation, defendant's age or mental capacity) properly require the jury to concentrate upon the circumstances surrounding both the offense and the offender, rather than upon extraneous factors having no rational bearing on the appropriateness of the penalty. We believe that the aggravating or mitigating nature of these various factors should be self-evident to any reasonable person within the context of each particular case. The Bird dissent further questions whether defendant's diminished capacity due to mental disease or intoxication (§ 190.3, subd. (g)) is a mitigating or aggravating factor. We think it quite obvious that diminished capacity of this type is a mitigating factor. Indeed, this factor is specifically listed as a mitigating factor by the drafters of the Model Penal Code provision on sentencing standards; significantly, the California act seems to have incorporated most of the factors set forth in the Model Penal Code provision, which was referred to with obvious approval by the high court. (See Gregg v. Georgia, supra, 428 U.S. 153, 193-194, fn. 44 [49 L.Ed.2d 859, 886, 96 S.Ct. 2909].) The dissents complain of the absence in the California act of any requirement that the jury file written findings disclosing which aggravating factors, if any, were relied upon in imposing the death penalty. As was fully explained in Frierson at pages 178-180, (1) the Gregg v. Georgia et al. decisions impose no such rigid standards regarding the necessity of findings; (2) in any event, the California system bears sufficient similarity to Florida's advisory jury system upheld in Proffitt to pass constitutional muster. Surely, if Florida's system is valid (wherein an advisory jury makes recommendations, without findings, to the trial judge), California's system, which imposes the additional safeguard of a jury independently determining the penalty, must likewise be valid. Moreover, unlike the Florida system, California imposes the additional requirement that the trier of fact make a written finding of the existence of special circumstances (which are aggravating circumstances) before the death penalty may be imposed. (§ 190.4, subd. (a).) The issue of proportionality review was treated in detail at pages 180-184 of Frierson. The Bird dissent revives the argument that because the California Legislature rejected proposed legislation to add proportionality review to the 1977 law, we should not read into that law similar provisions in order to preserve its constitutionality. But as Frierson explains (pp. 183-184), the Legislature may well have rejected such proposals as wholly unnecessary in light of the decisions in Proffitt and Jurek v. Texas (1976) 428 U.S. 262 [49 L.Ed.2d 929, 96 S.Ct. 2950], which preceded the 1977 law and which had upheld Florida and Texas statutes containing no express provision whatever for proportionality review. It is also suggested that the form of proportionality review which Frierson assures will be available (based upon the three-pronged test of In re Lynch (1972) 8 Cal.3d 410, 424-427 [105 Cal. Rptr. 217, 503 P.2d 921]) is too narrow because it fails to determine whether the penalty is proportional to other sentences imposed for similar crimes. This statement, however, appears to ignore Frierson's express reference to the second and third prongs of the Lynch test, under which a comparable inquiry is to be made. (See People v. Frierson, supra, 25 Cal.3d 142, 183.) In any event, as indicated in Frierson (pp. 183-184), we stand fully prepared to afford whatever kind of proportionality review may be held constitutionally mandated by the high court. The 1977 death penalty law, as with all legislation, is presumed to be constitutional ( In re Anderson (1968) 69 Cal.2d 613, 628 [73 Cal. Rptr. 21, 447 P.2d 117]), and it does not clearly, positively and unmistakably appear to violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments as construed by the federal cases (see In re Dennis M. (1969) 70 Cal.2d 444, 453 [75 Cal. Rptr. 1, 450 P.2d 296]).