Opinion ID: 1176393
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Instructions on Mitigating Evidence and Penalty Determination.

Text: (43) Section 190.3 provides that the trier of fact shall consider, take into account and be guided by the aggravating and mitigating circumstances referred to in this section, and shall impose a sentence of death if the trier of fact concludes that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances. We have acknowledged that an instruction using this statutory language, and in particular the words shall impose a sentence of death if ... the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, is potentially misleading if given without elaboration. ( People v. Brown (1985) 40 Cal.3d 512, 544, fn. 17 [220 Cal. Rptr. 637, 709 P.2d 440], revd. on other grounds sub nom. California v. Brown (1987) 479 U.S. 538 [93 L.Ed.2d 934, 107 S.Ct. 837].) One danger is that a jury instructed in the statutory language will misapprehend the nature of the weighing process, which connotes a qualitative evaluation. The process is not performed in a mechanical fashion by comparing the number of factors in aggravation with the number in mitigation, or by the arbitrary assignment of weights to the factors. (See People v. Allen, supra, 42 Cal.3d 1222, 1277.) As we have emphasized, the sentencing function is inherently moral and normative ( People v. Rodriguez (1986) 42 Cal.3d 730, 779 [230 Cal. Rptr. 667, 726 P.2d 113]) and therefore the weight or importance to be assigned to any particular factor or item of evidence involves a moral judgment to be made by each juror individually. A second danger is that the jurors will fail to understand that in evaluating the separate factors they must make a reasoned and individualized judgment on the appropriate penalty. (44) Our statutory scheme does not require any juror to vote for the death penalty unless, as a result of the weighing process, the juror personally determines that death is the appropriate penalty under all the circumstances. ( People v. Allen, supra, 42 Cal.3d at p. 1277; People v. Brown, supra, 40 Cal.3d at p. 541.) The weighing process must be understood as the method by which the jury chooses between two exceedingly severe penalties, life imprisonment without parole and death. It follows that the weighing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances must occur within the context of those two punishments; the balance is not between good and bad but between life and death. ( People v. Brown, supra, at p. 542, fn. 13, original italics.) (42b) Here the jury was instructed in the language of former CALJIC No. 8.84.2: If you conclude that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, you shall impose a sentence of death. However, if you determine that the mitigating circumstances outweigh the aggravating circumstances, you shall impose a sentence of confinement in the state prison for life without the possibility of parole. The jury was also instructed in the language of former CALJIC No. 8.84.1(k) which failed to include the statements prescribed in People v. Easley (1983) 34 Cal.3d 858, 878, fn. 10 [196 Cal. Rptr. 309, 671 P.2d 813], to insure that the penalty jury understands its responsibility to consider any mitigating aspects of defendant's character or record. (See Lockett v. Ohio (1978) 438 U.S. 586, 604 [57 L.Ed.2d 973, 990, 98 S.Ct. 2954].) (45) As in all cases where these potentially misleading instructions have been given, we examine the entire record, focusing particularly on the arguments of counsel and any other relevant instructions, to determine whether the jury may have been misled regarding the scope of its sentencing discretion and its responsibility to consider all of the mitigating evidence in the case. ( People v. Melton (1988) 44 Cal.3d 713, 761 [244 Cal. Rptr. 867, 750 P.2d 741]; People v. Hendricks (1988) 44 Cal.3d 635, 650-651 [244 Cal. Rptr. 181, 749 P.2d 836]; People v. Brown, supra, 40 Cal.3d at p. 544, fn. 17.) (42c) In this case the court gave no other instructions which served to clarify the nature of the weighing process, the scope of the jury's sentencing discretion, or its obligation to consider all mitigating evidence. Employing our case-by-case analysis of the arguments, under these circumstances it must be concluded that the prosecutor's argument exacerbated the ambiguity in the instructions in two important ways. First, the prosecutor portrayed the weighing process as being essentially an inquiry into whether the capital offenses were in any way justified or excused rather than a process for determining, by the consideration of statutory aggravating factors and all relevant mitigating circumstances, which of two severe penalties was more appropriate. The prosecutor stated that the most important factor to be considered is the circumstances of this particular crime itself, and that the jury was required to determine whether or not there was any justification for Mr. Crandell's conduct. The prosecutor then argued that there was no legal or moral or practical or any type of justification for Mr. Crandell's conduct. Because defendant offered no evidence of moral justification and did not rely in argument on the factor of moral justification (§ 190.3, factor (f)), this factor was irrelevant to penalty determination. (See People v. Davenport (1985) 41 Cal.3d 247, 289 [221 Cal. Rptr. 794, 710 P.2d 861].) As we have noted, it would be rare indeed to find mitigating evidence in a capital case which could justify or excuse the defendant's conduct. ( People v. Brown, supra, 40 Cal.3d at p. 542, fn. 13.) (46) Argument stating that particular mitigating factors have not been proven is, of course, entirely appropriate. ( People v. Rodriguez, supra, 42 Cal.3d 730, 789-790.) (42d) Here, however, the prosecutor failed to discuss any other aggravating or mitigating factors apart from the circumstances of the crime itself, and he incorrectly implied that the absence of the moral justification factor itself warranted imposition of the death penalty. Finally, and most importantly, this argument occurred in the context of the potentially misleading instructions noted above. For these reasons, the prosecutor's argument could have caused the jury to form a distorted perception of the weighing process by which penalty is determined. Second, the prosecutor failed to acknowledge the existence of mitigating circumstances and strongly implied there were none. At the penalty phase the prosecutor introduced no evidence of prior criminal activity by the defendant involving violence and no evidence of any prior felony conviction. (See § 190.3, factors (b) & (c).) The absence of prior violent criminal activity and the absence of prior felony convictions are significant mitigating circumstances in a capital case, where the accused frequently has an extensive criminal past. (See People v. Brown, supra, 40 Cal.3d at p. 542, fn. 13 [Often a person in this situation will have a substantial history of criminal and antisocial behavior].) Without mentioning these mitigating factors, the prosecutor remarked: The defendant has stated just moments ago he can offer nothing in mitigation of his defense. Viewed in context with the prosecutor's focus on the circumstances of the capital offenses and his focus on the absence of justification, this comment implied that a death verdict was virtually compelled by the absence of any mitigating factors and in particular the absence of the one factor  i.e., moral justification  which could have provided a basis for a sentence less than death. The prosecutor's exploitation of the instructions' ambiguities might well have been cured by a defense argument which directed the jury's attention to mitigating circumstances and properly explained the nature of the weighing process as the jury's individualized normative determination that one of the two severe penalty alternatives is the more appropriate. In the absence of any argument on defendant's behalf, however, it cannot be said with confidence that the jury received a correct understanding of the scope of its sentencing discretion and of its duty to consider all relevant mitigating evidence.