Opinion ID: 2589798
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Denial of Automatic Motion to Modify

Text: Defendant contends the trial court committed various errors in denying the automatic motion to modify the death verdict. (§ 190.4, subd. (e).) None of these claims have merit. First, defendant claims that the trial court erred in disregarding the fact that Flores, who was found guilty of the same crimes, could not receive the death penalty. However, the punishment received by others who might be involved in the crime is not relevant to [any] `intracase' proportionality review, because a capital penalty determination is `based on the character and record of the individual defendant and the circumstances of the offense.' ( People v. Arias, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 193, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 770, 913 P.2d 980, italics omitted.) Defendant next contends that the trial court gave excessive weight to the circumstances of the crime, and insufficient weight to the mitigating evidence, such as his apparent lack of planning and lack of any prior convictions or unadjudicated violent conduct. Along these lines, defendant similarly contends the trial court failed to properly weigh evidence under section 190.3, factor (k), which, as expanded upon in People v. Easley (1983) 34 Cal.3d 858, 196 Cal.Rptr. 309, 671 P.2d 813, allows consideration of `any other circumstance which extenuates the gravity of the crime even though it is not a legal excuse for the crime' and any other `aspect of [the] defendant's character or record ... that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death.' ( Id. at p. 878, fn. 10, 196 Cal.Rptr. 309, 671 P.2d 813.) In particular, defendant contends that [s]ince the events were uncharacteristic of [defendant's] prior behavior, his good background should not be diminished. The trial judge, however, did note that defendant's youth and excellent, outstanding record in life were mitigating factors; he simply concluded that the circumstances of the crime, particularly defendant's callousness and the presence of three special circumstances, significantly outweighed this evidence. Nor need the trial court recite all possible mitigating evidence. ( People v. Arias, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 192, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 770, 913 P.2d 980; People v. Memro (1995) 11 Cal.4th 786, 885, 47 Cal.Rptr.2d 219, 905 P.2d 1305.) Defendant further contends the trial court erroneously characterized defendant based on evidence not in the record. Not so. The trial court's references to defendant's use and possible selling of methamphetamine, his involvement in a deal to purchase marijuana from April, and his association with Flores, were based on the record, and supported the trial court's statement, Defendant's good recordoh, I could cry with all those people who came in and testified, who have been inspired by Chris Box ... But the problem is that they did not know the whole story, and the whole story was changing.... In short, this ideal record is not the whole picture. Even before the start of the events that give rise to this case, Chris Box was on the skids, and he just went off an awfully big bank all at once. Defendant also objects to the trial court's statement that I'm inclined to think that what happened was that Chris Box was forced within the last year before this offense to come to terms with the factto make adjustments to the fact that life is not fair, and most particularly it was not fair to him. And that's mitigating that it wasn't fair. And it wasn't. Here he was; he did all the right things; he touched all the right bases; and he should have gone ever onward and upward. And God didn't make him four inches taller, and so it wasn't happening. And he put all his eggs in that basket and couldn't see any other basket. And, unfortunately, his reaction was in the direction of `Life isn't fair to me, so why do I have to be fair to it.' The trial court did not engage in improper speculation, as defendant suggests, but relied on reasonable inferences from the evidence, such as defendant's disappointment in not receiving a college football scholarship, and testimony that his height was the most likely reason for this lack of opportunity. Finally, defendant contends that the cumulative effect of the trial court's errors in ruling on the automatic motion to modify requires reversal. There was no error.