Opinion ID: 1801948
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Denial of requested instruction on severity of the death penalty

Text: Defendant contends the trial court erred in refusing his request to instruct the jury that death is the ultimate or most serious penalty that can be imposed, and that life without possibility of parole is a less serious or less severe punishment. He asserts the error violated his rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution. We repeatedly have held, however, that there is no legal requirement that penalty phase jurors be instructed that death is the greater punishment, because the penalty trial itself and the jury instructions given, particularly CALJIC No. 8.88, make clear that the state views death as the most extreme penalty. ( People v. Cook, supra, 40 Cal.4th at p. 1363; People v. Ochoa, supra, 19 Cal.4th at pp. 478-479.) We decline to revisit these holdings.