Opinion ID: 1237936
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Instructions Relating to Banks Homicide

Text: (129) Defendant contends that in explaining to the jury the law applicable to the Banks homicide, the trial court erred in instructing on first degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon but not second degree murder or manslaughter, and also in instructing on the felony-murder doctrine. We reject these contentions. When the prosecution has introduced evidence at the penalty phase of other violent criminal activity by the defendant (§ 190.3, factor (b)), a trial court is not required, absent a request, to instruct on the elements of specific crimes that this evidence tends to prove. ( People v. Clark, supra, 50 Cal.3d 583, 627.) This rule recognizes that a defendant for tactical considerations may not want the penalty phase instructions overloaded with a series of lengthy instructions on the elements of alleged other crimes, perhaps because he [or she] fears that such instructions could result in the jury placing undue significance on such other crimes rather than on the central question of whether he [or she] should live or die. ( People v. Phillips (1985) 41 Cal.3d 29, 73, fn. 25 [222 Cal. Rptr. 127, 711 P.2d 423].) Because defendant did not request instructions on second degree murder or manslaughter, the trial court was under no duty to instruct on those offenses. In instructing the jury, the trial court stated that the crime of murder included an unlawful killing during the commission or attempted commission of an inherently dangerous felony. As defendant correctly observes, this part of the instruction was not applicable to the Banks homicide, because the evidence did not show defendant killed Banks in the course of committing an inherently dangerous felony. We conclude, however, that defendant was not prejudiced by the inapplicable instruction. The only homicide offense fully defined for the jury was first degree murder by premeditation and deliberation. If the jurors believed Carpenter's testimony, defendant was necessarily guilty of this offense, and the finding of premeditation and deliberation would necessarily include a finding of intent to kill. If the jurors rejected Carpenter's testimony and did not find premeditation and deliberation, then the instructions became irrelevant because they did not define second degree murder or manslaughter. In that event, the jury would make its own evaluation of the aggravating force of defendant's conduct without regard to its legal label.