Court Opinion

ID: 9577108
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:31:50.231075+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:19:59.870217
License: Public Domain

*1385MOSK, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I concur in the judgment in all respects save one. I would vacate the sentence of death as unreliable under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 17 of California Constitution because trial counsel introduced none of the available mitigating evidence. (See People v. Avena (1996) 13 Cal.4th 394, 449-450 [53 Cal.Rptr.2d 301, 916 P.2d 1000] (dis. opn. of Mosk, J.) [implying that any sentence of death should be vacated as unreliable under the Eighth Amendment and article I, section 17 if trial counsel introduced none of the available mitigating evidence]; People v. Lucas (1995) 12 Cal.4th 415, 501-502 [48 Cal.Rptr.2d 525, 907 P.2d 373] (conc. and dis. opn. of Mosk, J.) [same]; In re Ross (1995) 10 Cal.4th 184, 216, fn. 1 [40 Cal.Rptr.2d 544, 892 P.2d 1287] (dis. opn. of Mosk, J.) [same]; People v. Stansbury (1995) 9 Cal.4th 824, 835 [38 Cal.Rptr.2d 394, 889 P.2d 588] (conc. and dis. opn. of Mosk, J.) [same], reiterating People v. Stansbury (1993) 4 Cal.4th 1017, 1074 [17 Cal.Rptr.2d 174, 846 P.2d 756] (conc. and dis. opn. of Mosk, J.), revd. sub nom. Stansbury v. California (1994) 511 U.S. 318 [114 S.Ct. 1526, 128 L.Ed.2d 293] (per curiam); People v. Diaz (1992) 3 Cal.4th 495, 577 [11 Cal.Rptr.2d 353, 834 P.2d 1171] (conc. and dis. opn. of Mosk, J.) [same]; see also People v. Howard (1992) 1 Cal.4th 1132, 1197 [5 Cal.Rptr.2d 268, 824 P.2d 1315] (cone, and dis. opn. of Mosk, J.) [finding a sentence of death unreliable under the Eighth Amendment and article I, section 17 when trial counsel introduced none of the available mitigating evidence, albeit at the defendant’s request]; People v. Sanders (1990) 51 Cal.3d 471, 531-533 [273 Cal.Rptr. 537, 797 P.2d 561] (dis. opn. of Mosk, J.) [same]; People v. Lang (1989) 49 Cal.3d 991, 1059-1062 [264 Cal.Rptr. 386, 782 P.2d 627] (conc. and dis. opn. of Mosk, J.) [same]; People v. Williams (1988) 44 Cal.3d 1127, 1158-1161 [245 Cal.Rptr. 635, 751 P.2d 901] (conc. and dis. opn. of Mosk, J.) [to similar effect under the Eighth Amendment]; People v. Deere (1985) 41 Cal.3d 353, 360-368 [222 Cal.Rptr. 13, 710 P.2d 925] [same].)
If I had to reach the issue, I would conclude that the trial court erred reversibly when it granted defendant’s motion to represent himself at the penalty phase—which was, in effect, a “request to prosecute the case for death” (People v. Bloom (1989) 48 Cal.3d 1194, 1236 [259 Cal.Rptr. 669, 774 P.2d 698] (conc. and dis. opn. of Mosk, J.)).
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied September 17, 1997.