Opinion ID: 1293219
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Double Counting of the 1977 Crime

Text: (45) Defendant asserts the prosecutor misled the jury by arguing that evidence of the prior 1977 crime could be used to show aggravation in the present crime under section 190.3, factor (a) (circumstances of the crimes found at the guilt phase), as well as under factor (b) (prior violent criminal acts) ( People v. Miranda, supra, 44 Cal.3d 57, 105-106.) Defendant contends that such double counting left the jury with little or no discretion in its penalty determination. Although we agree with defendant that factor (b) evidence pertains only to criminal activity other than the crimes for which defendant was convicted in the present proceeding, we cannot, on this record, conclude that the jury understood that the 1977 prior crime came within the guilt phase crimes. Neither the judge nor the prosecutor told the jury that it was to consider the past crime as a circumstance of the present crime, and we are unpersuaded by defendant's argument that the jury was so misinformed. (See Miranda, supra, 44 Cal.3d at p. 107.)