Opinion ID: 2600070
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evidence of incident in county jail

Text: In the notice of evidence in aggravation, the prosecution indicated it intended to introduce under factor (b) eight incidents involving defendant's use or threats of violence, including [a]ll evidence, facts underlying, statements of witnesses and the defendant related to the defendant's use or attempted use of force or violence or the express or implied threat to use force or violence on Sheriff's Deputies on March 3, 1996. By written motion, defendant objected to all of the proposed other crimes evidence on various grounds and sought a hearing on its admissibility. The trial court conducted the requested hearing in conjunction with the parties' numerous other pretrial motions. At the outset of that hearing, the trial court heard extensive argument on a defense motion, pursuant to Pitchess v. Superior Court (1974) 11 Cal.3d 531 [113 Cal.Rptr. 897, 522 P.2d 305], seeking the personnel files of the six named sheriff's deputies who were involved in the March 3 incident, and granted the motion as to the files of one officer. Later in the hearing, the trial court ruled it would allow the prosecution to present the evidence of the county jail incident in its case in aggravation, stating simply, We already litigated that. [25] At the penalty retrial, and over trial counsel's renewed objection, the prosecution called three sheriff's deputies to testify about the March 3, 1996, incident at the San Diego County jail while defendant was awaiting trial in the case. According to the officers' testimony, on that date, six sheriff's deputies wielding pepper spray and a shock-emitting shield extracted defendant from his jail cell after he refused directions to relocate to a more secure unit. When defendant finally emerged from his cell and deputies moved closer to handcuff him, he started cursing, then charged at them with his head down and fists raised. Defendant ran down the hallway for about 500 feet before he was subdued. As a result of the incident, defendant was housed in the cell used for disciplining inmates and charged with a rules violation. Noting that evidence of violent conduct or threats of violence admitted under factor (b) must amount to an actual crime ( People v. Phillips, supra, 41 Cal.3d at p. 72), defendant contends the trial court erred in admitting the evidence of the county jail incident because the prosecutor made no effort to tie those events to a violation of any particular penal statute. He claims, furthermore, that the trial court compounded its evidentiary error by giving CALJIC No. 8.87, which told the jury how to consider evidence of unadjudicated criminal activity in making its penalty determination but failed to identify, or instruct on, the elements of the crime defendant allegedly had committed. [26] Defendant argues that the failure to specify and instruct on the elements of the particular crime at issue in that incident rendered meaningless the rule that the jury may consider evidence of unadjudicated crimes as a factor in aggravation only when such criminal activity is proved beyond a reasonable doubt. (34) Defendant is correct that the penalty jury could not properly consider other crimes evidence as an aggravating factor unless it was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt he committed the criminal activity, and the trial court had a sua sponte duty to so instruct. ( People v. Anderson, supra, 25 Cal.4th at p. 584; People v. Robertson (1982) 33 Cal.3d 21, 53-56 [188 Cal.Rptr. 77, 655 P.2d 279].) But defendant points to no case imposing a duty on the prosecutor or the trial court to identify for the jury the actual offense defined by the criminal activity admitted as factor (b) evidence. Indeed, to the contrary, we have held that absent a request, the trial court has no duty to specify the names or elements of the unadjudicated crimes when instructing the jury on factor (b) evidence. ( People v. Tuilaepa (1992) 4 Cal.4th 569, 591-592 [15 Cal.Rptr.2d 382, 842 P.2d 1142]; People v. Hardy (1992) 2 Cal.4th 86, 205-206 [5 Cal.Rptr.2d 796, 825 P.2d 781].) The premise of this rule is that, for tactical reasons, most defendants prefer not to risk having the jury place undue emphasis on the prior violent crimes. ( People v. Tuilaepa, supra, at p. 592.) Contrary to defendant's suggestion, the failure to identify an actual crime does not undermine the reasonable doubt standard for considering an unadjudicated crime as an aggravating factor. As we have explained, that standard is a foundational requirementwhich California law, not the Constitution, imposesto ensure that before a sentencing juror weighs the culpable nature of such other violent criminal conduct on the issue of penalty, he or she must be highly certain that the defendant committed it. ( People v. Anderson, supra, 25 Cal.4th at p. 589.) Here, the trial court properly determined the legal question whether the prosecution's proposed evidence in aggravation was an actual crime involving violence or the threat of violence [27] ( People v. Loker (2008) 44 Cal.4th 691, 745 [80 Cal.Rptr.3d 630, 188 P.3d 580]), and informed the jurors they had to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant committed the alleged unadjudicated criminal act before they could consider such evidence as a factor in aggravation. Therefore, the failure to identify or define the specific crime constituting the criminal activity did not render meaningless the reasonable doubt requirement or otherwise skew the jury's normative determination of the appropriate penalty. ( People v. Anderson, supra, at p. 589.)