Opinion ID: 2594480
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 20

Heading: Spillover effect from guilt phase prosecutorial misconduct

Text: At defendant's request, the trial court instructed the jury to consider the evidence from the guilt phase in making its penalty phase decision. Citing that instruction, defendant reasserts several alleged instances of guilt phase prosecutorial misconduct as a basis for reversing the penalty verdict. Specifically, defendant repeats his assertions that the prosecutor improperly argued (or insinuated) that: (1) defendant had threatened Elizabeth Gerencser, (2) defendant had sexually assaulted the murder victims, (3) defendant's demeanor and conduct the morning after the murders could have been the result of his having committed the murders, and (4) defendant stole Converse's videocassette recorder and rifles to obtain money for drugs. Defendant's claims of prejudice at the penalty phase all depend on his assertion that the prosecutor committed the guilt phase misconduct defendant alleges, but we have already rejected these contentions, finding defendant forfeited his claims of prosecutorial misconduct and/or that no prejudicial misconduct occurred. Furthermore, the guilt phase evidence the prosecutor elicited in each of these instances, which at defendant's request became a part of the penalty phase deliberations, was relevant at the penalty phase to show (1) the nature and circumstances of defendant's crimes, (2) his character, and/or (3) his level of intoxication at the time of the crimes. (See § 190.3.) Because all this evidence was relevant to issues properly before the jury, we have no basis to credit defendant's speculative claim that the evidence somehow caused the jury to base its penalty verdict on nonstatutory aggravating factors.