Opinion ID: 1375029
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Instructing Jurors on Penalty Factors to Which Defendant Objected

Text: Defendant requested that the court not instruct the jury with language derived from factors (e) and (j) of section 190.3 in the penalty instructions. It refused. The instructions directed the jury to consider whether or not the victims consented to the homicidal acts or were participant[s] in the defendant's homicidal conduct, and whether the defendant was an accomplice to the offense[s] and his participation ... relatively minor. Defendant contends that giving instructions he views as listing inapplicable mitigating factors violated the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. We have rejected similar claims ( People v. Danielson (1992) 3 Cal.4th 691, 718 [13 Cal. Rptr.2d 1, 838 P.2d 729] [construing 1978 death penalty statute]) and do so here as well.