Opinion ID: 1375029
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Denying Motion to Waive Jury for Penalty Trial

Text: (49) After his motion to sever counts was denied, defendant asked the court to hear the penalty trial itself in lieu of the jury. The court refused, stating that the prosecution was entitled to a jury trial and wanted one. Citing Singer v. United States (1965) 380 U.S. 24 [13 L.Ed.2d 630, 85 S.Ct. 783], defendant maintains that the ruling violated the due process clause and a right he claims to a reliable sentence under the Eighth Amendment because there were compelling reasons to have the court, rather than the jury, decide his fate. We have held that there is no state law right to waive a penalty trial by jury over the prosecution's objection. ( People v. King (1970) 1 Cal.3d 791, 795 [83 Cal. Rptr. 401, 463 P.2d 753].) The court could not constitutionally have granted defendant's request over the prosecutor's opposition. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 16.) Thus his claim that former section 190.4, subdivision (c), did not require prosecutorial approval for a jury waiver must fail. The state Constitution would have trumped any such implicit statutory rule. ( People v. Roberts, supra, 2 Cal.4th 271, 336, fn. 18.) The United States Constitution is not offended: it is proper to require the prosecution and the court to agree to a defendant's request for a court trial. ( Singer v. United States, supra, 380 U.S. at pp. 26, 36 [13 L.Ed.2d at pp. 630, 638-639].) Defendant does not dispute this, but urges us to conclude that his case falls under Singer 's dictum that there might be some circumstances where a defendant's reasons for wanting to be tried by a judge alone are so compelling that the Government's insistence on trial by jury would result in the denial to a defendant of an impartial trial. ( Id. at p. 37 [13 L.Ed.2d at p. 639].) He asserts that there were such circumstances here because two noncapital murder charges were joined with a capital murder charge, and the evidence relating to the three killings would be highly inflammatory, and would reveal inconsistent defenses to the killings. We agree with the People that this argument does little more than restate defendant's unsuccessful contention that the court wrongly denied his motion to sever the counts for the 1976 murders from that for the 1978 murder. ( Ante, at pp. 847-851.) We disagree that there were any circumstances that might possibly have entitled him to a court trial under Singer.