Opinion ID: 2594480
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 34

Heading: Asserted use of improper aggravating factors

Text: Defendant argues that the trial court used his age as a factor in aggravation, thereby improperly using a mitigating factor as an aggravating factor. Defendant misreads the record. The court expressly described defendant's age as a mitigating factor and found it did not outweigh the aggravating factors, alone or in combination with other mitigating factors. Defendant also argues the trial court improperly considered defendant's lack of remorse as an aggravating factor, basing this claim on the court's comment that defendant had shown no true remorse during the trial proceedings. The court's comment was in the context of considering defendant's life history as a mitigating factor. The court noted that defendant had not shown remorse, and therefore remorse was not a relevant mitigating factor. The court's comment does not suggest it considered defendant's lack of remorse to be an aggravating factor. ( People v. Ochoa, supra, 19 Cal.4th at pp. 461-62, 79 Cal.Rptr.2d 408, 966 P.2d 442.) Defendant next contends the trial court used defendant's failure to testify as a factor in aggravation. It did not. The prosecutor argued that defendant had not offered any explanation or excuse for his actions, but the court did not adopt this argument in making its findings, nor does the argument necessarily refer specifically to defendant's failure to testify. Finally, defendant argues the court improperly weighed each mitigating circumstance individually against the aggravating circumstances instead of weighing the totality of mitigating circumstances against the aggravating circumstances. Certain of the court's comments, taken out of context, support defendant's argument. For example, in discussing defendant's age, the court stated: I don't find his age to be a mitigating factor in comparison to the facts and circumstances of the case. Nevertheless, looking at the court's comments as a whole, we conclude the court considered the mitigating factors cumulatively, though it took the facts of the case into account when evaluating what weight to give any individual mitigating factor.