Opinion ID: 2601957
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Considering Absence of Mitigating Factors As an Aggravating Factor

Text: Defendant asserts that the trial court erred in refusing his request to instruct the jury that the absence of a particular mitigating factor could not be weighed as an aggravating circumstance. Defendant acknowledges that we repeatedly have held that a trial court is not required to give a jury instruction that a lack of mitigating evidence does not constitute aggravation. [Citations.] ( People v. Carey (2007) 41 Cal.4th 109, 133 [59 Cal.Rptr.3d 172, 158 P.3d 743].) `A jury properly advised about the broad scope of its sentencing discretion is unlikely to conclude that the absence of [mitigating] factors . . . is entitled to significant aggravating weight.' [Citation.] ( Id. at p. 134.) (12) Defendant challenges the assumption that juries understand how to evaluate the absence of particular mitigating factors by citing several journal articles that purportedly demonstrate that juries often misunderstand mitigating and aggravating circumstances. (Haney et al., Deciding to Take a Life: Capital Juries, Sentencing Instruction, and the Jurisprudence of Death (1994) 50 J. Soc. Issues 149, 169; Haney & Lynch, Comprehending Life and Death Matters: A Preliminary Study of California's Capital Penalty Instructions (1994) 18 Law & Hum. Behav. 411, 422-424; Haney & Lynch, Clarifying Life and Death Matters: An Analysis of Instructional Comprehension and Penalty Phase Closing Arguments (1997) 21 Law & Hum. Behav. 575, 582-583, 589-591; Eisenberg & Wells, Deadly Confusion: Juror Instructions in Capital Cases (1993) 79 Cornell L.Rev. 1.) We rejected a similar argument in People v. Welch, supra, 20 Cal.4th 701, 773, stating: The presumption that the jurors in this case understood and followed the mitigation instruction supplied to them is not rebutted by empirical assertions to the contrary based on research that is not part of the present record and has not been subject to cross examination. [Citation.]