Opinion ID: 2509517
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Listing of Aggravating and Mitigating Factors

Text: CALJIC No. 8.85 lists the factors to be considered by the jury in making its penalty decision. Defendant contends that the trial court should have deleted those factors inapplicable to this case. We rejected that contention in People v. Sapp (2003) 31 Cal.4th 240, 315, 2 Cal.Rptr.3d 554, 73 P.3d 433, People v. Carpenter, supra, 15 Cal.4th at page 421, 63 Cal.Rptr.2d 1, 935 P.2d 708, People v. Ghent, supra, 43 Cal.3d at pages 776-777, 239 Cal.Rptr. 82, 739 P.2d 1250, and in many other cases. Defendant proposed a special jury instruction stating that the only applicable aggravating factors in this case were the circumstances of the murder and other criminal activity involving force or violence. The trial court did not err in rejecting this instruction. We have repeatedly said that a trial court need not specify whether factors are aggravating or mitigating. (See People v. Pollock, supra, 32 Cal.4th 1153, 1193, 13 Cal.Rptr.3d 34, 89 P.3d 353; People v. Davenport (1995) 11 Cal.4th 1171, 1230, 47 Cal.Rptr.2d 800, 906 P.2d 1068; People v. Sanders, supra, 11 Cal.4th at p. 561, 46 Cal.Rptr.2d 751, 905 P.2d 420.) In any event, here both the prosecutor and defense counsel said to the jury in closing argument that the circumstances of the crime and other violent criminal activity were the only aggravating circumstances. The trial court rejected defendant's proposed special instruction No. 4, which stated: The absence of prior felony convictions is a significant mitigating circumstance in a capital case, where the accused frequently has an extensive criminal past. The trial court, however, did instruct the jury to consider the presence or absence of any prior felony or misdemeanor conviction. [8] Thus, the jurors were told that they could consider defendant's lack of prior convictions as a mitigating consideration. Whether it was a significant consideration was a matter for the jurors to determine.