Opinion ID: 1351510
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Exclusion of Statistical Information

Text: (37) Defense counsel sought to introduce statistical evidence reflecting the number of special circumstance cases in which the death penalty was imposed, in relation to all such cases filed since the enactment of the 1977 death penalty law. The trial court ruled the proffered testimony irrelevant and inadmissible. Defendant contends it was relevant mitigating evidence under the Eighth Amendment, and that its exclusion requires reversal of the penalty verdict. Evidence relating to the incidence of death judgments since the enactment of the 1977 death penalty law is not relevant to any issue material to the choice of penalty under the Eighth Amendment. Such evidence has no bearing on the character or record of the individual offender or the circumstances of his particular offense, which are the proper focus of a penalty trial under Woodson v. North Carolina (1976) 428 U.S. 280, 304.... Unlike mitigating evidence of a defendant's background and character, which may be introduced to elicit the sympathy or pity of the jury, [information about the punishment of assertedly `similarly situated' persons] do[es] not aid the jury in making an individualized assessment of the crucial issue whether the death penalty is appropriate for the particular defendant on trial. ( People v. Grant (1988) 45 Cal.3d 829, 860 [248 Cal. Rptr. 444 [755 P.2d 894], italics in original [speaking to the irrelevancy, under the Eighth Amendment, of evidence relating to the manner in which the death penalty is carried out].)