Opinion ID: 2599073
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: Intercase/intracase proportionality review

Text: Defendant asks us to undertake both intracase and intercase proportionality review of his death sentence. The latter is not constitutionally required and this court has consistently declined to undertake intercase proportionality review in past automatic appeals. (See, e.g., People v. Frye (1998) 18 Cal.4th 894, 1029, 77 Cal.Rptr.2d 25, 959 P.2d 183 ( Frye ); People v. Mincey (1992) 2 Cal.4th 408, 476, 6 Cal.Rptr.2d 822, 827 P.2d 388.) We do, however, undertake intracase proportionality review to determine whether imposition of the death penalty in a given case is unconstitutionally disproportionate to the offense and the defendant's personal culpability. ( People v. Bacigalupo (1991) 1 Cal.4th 103, 151, 2 Cal. Rptr.2d 335, 820 P.2d 559.) Accordingly, we have evaluated whether [defendant's] capital sentence is so `grossly disproportionate' to the offenses as to constitute cruel or unusual punishment under article I, section 17 of the California Constitution. ( People v. Arias (1996) 13 Cal.4th 92, 193, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 770, 913 P.2d 980.) A death sentence is grossly disproportionate if it shocks the conscience and offends fundamental notions of human dignity. ( Livaditis, supra, 2 Cal.4th at p. 786, 9 Cal.Rptr.2d 72, 831 P.2d 297.) Defendant, 22 years of age and already with a long criminal history at the time of this violent crime spree, brutally robbed and stabbed one man to death; brutally robbed, stabbed and nearly killed another; robbed another victim in an elevator by beating him unconscious with a hard, blunt object; robbed another victim in a gas station by attacking and beating him in the rest room of the business; and violently robbed three taxicab drivers while holding a knife to their throats and threatening to kill them. We do not find defendant's death sentence so disproportionate to his offenses and to his personal culpability for those offenses as to shock[ ] the conscience or offend[ ] fundamental notions of human dignity. ( Livaditis, supra, 2 Cal.4th at p. 786, 9 Cal. Rptr.2d 72, 831 P.2d 297.)