Opinion ID: 844235
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Exclusion of Expert Testimony Concerning the Conditions of Confinement in Prison

Text: Defendant offered the testimony of James Esten, a former employee of the Department of Corrections, to testify as an expert as to the conditions of confinement should defendant be sentenced to a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The defense proposed to introduce photographs taken at Valley State Prison for Women that depicted areas where defendant most likely would be housed if sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. The defense also proposed to have Esten testify regarding the conditions of confinement. The trial court excluded the testimony as irrelevant. Defendant contends that ruling violated section 190.3 as well as her rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution. (14) We have previously held that evidence of the conditions of confinement that a defendant will experience if sentenced to life imprisonment without parole is irrelevant to the jury's penalty determination because it does not relate to the defendant's character, culpability, or the circumstances of the offense. [Citations.] Its admission is not required either by the federal Constitution or by Penal Code section 190.3. [Citations.] ( People v. Quartermain (1997) 16 Cal.4th 600, 632 [66 Cal.Rptr.2d 609, 941 P.2d 788]; see also People v. Ervine (2009) 47 Cal.4th 745, 794-795 [102 Cal.Rptr.3d 786, 220 P.3d 820].) Based on our prior decisions, we conclude the trial court did not err by excluding the proffered testimony regarding the conditions of confinement that defendant would experience if sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. [17]