Opinion ID: 2614001
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Boyd claim

Text: (33) Defendant contends the prosecutor's references during cross-examination and argument to defendant's lack of remorse constituted prohibited references to a nonstatutory factor in aggravation. In People v. Boyd (1985) 38 Cal.3d 762 [215 Cal. Rptr. 1, 700 P.2d 782], we held that a prosecutor may not present evidence in aggravation that is not relevant to the statutory factors enumerated in section 190.3. (38 Cal.3d at pp. 772-776.) Although lack of remorse is not a statutory aggravating factor, the absence of remorse is relevant to the determination whether the mitigating factor of remorse is present; thus, the prosecutor properly may suggest that an absence of evidence of remorse weighs against a finding of remorse as a mitigating factor. ( People v. Sims, supra, 5 Cal.4th 405, 464-465; People v. Wharton, supra, 53 Cal.3d 522, 593; People v. Gallego, supra, 52 Cal.3d 115, 197; People v. Keenan, supra, 46 Cal.3d 478, 510.) In the present case, the prosecutor presented no additional evidence at the penalty phase of the trial. Contrary to defendant's assertion, the question eliciting, and subsequent argument emphasizing, the absence of any expression of remorse on defendant's part after the commission of the offenses did not suggest the presence of a nonstatutory factor in aggravation, but simply underscored the lack of evidence of remorse as a factor in mitigation. (see People v. Gallego, supra, 52 Cal.3d 115, 197.)