Court Opinion

ID: 9844388
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:02:07.738524+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:34.083811
License: Public Domain

PETERS, J.
I concur in the majority opinion insofar as it affirms the judgment of guilt, but I dissent insofar as the majority affirms the imposition of the death penalty.
I cannot agree with the majority that the trial court properly excused for cause prospective jurors who were of the view that never, under any circumstances, could they return a death penalty. In doing so, the majority has repudiated the reasoning of In re Anderson, 69 Cal.2d 613 [73 Cal.Rptr. 21, 447 P.2d 117], which requires that the jury in a death penalty case must reflect the conscience of the community on the ultimate question of life and death. Although I dissented in Anderson, I have accepted the binding force of that decision (see e.g., People v. Aikens, ante, pp. 369, 380 [74 Cal.Rptr. 882, 450 P.2d 258] 394); however, the majority by *814its decision today indicates that the reasoning of the decision is not binding.
In In re Anderson, supra 69 Cal.2d 613, the majority reaffirmed the view that the Legislature has entrusted to the absolute discretion of the trier of fact the awesome decision between life imprisonment and death for first degree murder and that the Legislature has not established any standards to guide the trier of fact or limited in any way the absolute discretion of the trier of fact to determine which of the two penalties to impose. (69 Cal.2d at pp. 622-623.)
The absence of any standards means that to a large extent the members of the jury will be guided by their predilections relating to the proper function of the death penalty in our modern society. This is recognized by the majority in Anderson. ‘ ‘ The Legislature, by entrusting to the absolute discretion of the jury the decision between life imprisonment and death has indicated its belief that jurors understand the factors that are relevant to such a decision.” 69 Cal.2d at p. 625.) And the majority quoted from Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510 [20 L.Ed.2d 776, 88 S.Ct. 1770], as follows: “ . . . a jury that must choose between life imprisonment and capital punishment can do little more—and must do nothing less—than express the conscience of the community on the ultimate question of life and death,’15 and footnote 15 reads in part 1 [Illinois] has deliberately “made . . . the death penalty ... an optional form of punishment which [the jury remains] free to select or reject as it [sees] fit.” [Citation.] And one of the most important functions any jury can perform in making such a selection is to maintain a link between contemporary community values and the penal system—a link without which the determination of punishment could hardly reflect “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” ’ ” 69 Cal.2d at pp. 627.
The conclusion is inescapable that, in committing the choice of penalty to the absolute discretion of the trier of fact because the jurors would understand the factors relevant to such a decision and because in this way a link would be maintained between contemporary community values and the penalty system, the legislative intent was to give effect to the jurors’ predilections relating to the death penalty, not to ignore or silence them.1
*815It is even clearer, if anything could be, that we do not maintain a link between contemporary community values and the penal system by stacking the deck and excluding for cause a substantial segment of the community solely on the basis that their views on the death penalty will result in a penalty of life imprisonment. Exclusion of jurors for cause solely because their views on the death penalty will determine their vote at the penalty portion of the trial eliminates the possibility that the jury will reflect contemporary community values in its determination of the appropriate penalty.
It is downright inconsistent for the majority to attempt to sustain the validity of the death penalty as administered in California on the theory set forth in Anderson that leaving the determination of penalty to the jury without standards is not invalid because the Legislature could properly seek in this manner to maintain a link between community values and the penalty system and for the majority at the same time to exclude for cause the substantial segment of the community who oppose the death penalty in all circumstances.
*816In holding that jurors may he excluded for cause when they are opposed to the imposition of the death penalty in any circumstances, the majority is not applying any statutory rule but one fashioned by the court itself, and it is a rule which is directly contrary to the legislative direction. Challenge of jurors for bias is covered by section 1073 et seq., of the Penal Code.
Section 1073 of the Penal Code provides: “Particular causes of challenge are of two kinds:
“First. For such a bias as, when the existence of the facts is ascertained, in judgment of law disqualifies the juror, and which is known in this code as implied bias.
'1 Second. For the existence of a state of mind on the part of the juror in reference to the case, or to either of the parties, which will prevent him from acting with entire impartiality and without prejudice to the substantial rights of either party, which is known in this code as actual bias. ’ ’
Section 1074 of that code provides: “A challenge for implied bias may be taken for all or any of the following causes, and for no other: . . .
“8. If the offense charged be punishable with death, the entertaining of such conscientious opinions as would preclude his ■ finding the defendant guilty; in which ease he must neither be permitted nor compelled to serve as a juror.”' (Italics added.)
The language of the statute is unmistakably clear that challenge for cause because of conscientious opinions against the" death penalty will lie where those opinions would preclude finding the defendant guilty. There is no provision in section 1074 for exclusion of jurors whose opinions would permit them to find a defendant guilty but would not permit them to impose the death penalty, and the language of the section excluding court-adopted additions to the challenges for implied bias, ‘ ‘ and for no other, ’ ’ is clear, unambiguous, and not subject to construction. The language of the statute shows that the Legislature did not intend, with the one exception therein, to exclude jurors for views as to the death penalty.
Nor may it properly be concluded that a juror who has opinions against the death penalty which would preclude him in any circumstances from imposing the death penalty may béexcused for actual bias under the statutes. The implied bias section specifically deals with the jurors who have objections against the death penalty and establishes the rule that such jurors are biased only when those objections would preclude a *817finding of guilt. There simply is no basis for assuming that the Legislature intended that a conscientious opinion as to penalty which would not preclude a finding of guilt but only affect the determination of penalty should be viewed as actual bias.
Moreover, application of the actual bias provision to opinions regarding the imposition of the death penalty would create an absurd situation. The actual bias provision excludes; a juror for the existence of a state of mind “which will pre-‘ vent him from acting with entire impartiality and without prejudice to the substantial rights of either party.” In the absence of any standards as to imposition of the death penalty, it seems impossible to determine whether a -juror is impartial unless we assume that any opinion as to the appropriateness of the death penalty shows partiality. Such an assumption would disqualify any juror who had previously decided that the death penalty was appropriate or inappropriate in some situations. Views with respect to the desirability of the death penalty are so widely held that application of the actual bias provision of the code section would exclude most prospective jurors for views for or against the death penalty and the voir dire of a prospective juror would become a lengthy trial in itself.
I am not unaware that there is a long line of case law in this state that a juror may be excused for cause because of conscientious opinions opposed to the death penalty where such opinions would not preclude a finding of guilt. The first of the cases reasoned that since the jury should only return life imprisonment if there were special circumstances warranting a lesser punishment, a juror having general scruples against the death penalty should be excluded. (People v. Rollins, 179 Cal. 793, 795-796 [179 P. 209].) Although the rule requiring mitigating circumstances to justify fixing the penalty at life imprisonment was subsequently repudiated (People v. Green, 47 Cal.2d 209, 217-232 [302 P.2d 307]), this court retained the rule that a juror having scruples against the death penalty should be excluded for cause, reasoning that a juror should be in a position prior to trial to impose ■ either penalty, that to permit jurors having such scruples to serve would work a de facto abolition of the death penalty and that it would be inappropriate for this court to achieve such a result by construction (People v. Riser, 47 Cal.2d 566, 573-576 [305 P.2d 1]). A number of subsequent cases have rejected a contention that the addition of section 190.1 of the Penal *818Code showed a legislative intention to permit jurors having conscientious scruples against the death penalty to serve. (People v. Gonzales, 66 Cal.2d 482, 498-499 [58 Cal.Rptr. 361, 426 P.2d 929]; People v. Nicolaus, 65 Cal.2d 866, 882-883 [56 Cal.Rptr. 635, 423 P.2d 787]; People v. Thomas, 65 Cal.2d 698, 706 [56 Cal.Rptr. 305, 423 P.2d 233]; People v. Smith, 63 Cal.2d 779, 789 [48 Cal.Rptr. 382, 409 P.2d 222]; People v. Gilbert, 63 Cal.2d 690, 711-712. [47 Cal.Rptr. 909, 408 P.2d 365].)
All of the reasons offered for extending the challenge for cause to jurors who have conscientious objections to the death penalty are questionable in the light of Anderson and Wither-spoon. The argument that section 190 of the Penal Code requires that the juror be in a position to choose between the penalties in the light of the evidence before him is of questionable validity because, as demonstrated above and shown by Anderson, the Legislature has intentionally left in large measure the question of imposition of the penalty to the predilections of the jurors and has shown no intent to discriminate amongst those predilections. In a particular case, the preconceived predilection of a juror may compel his choice of either life or death whether or not in some other ease he might find in favor of the other penalty and whether or not other jurors may have directly contrary predilections in each case. There is nothing to indicate that the Legislature intended to exclude all jurors who had previously considered the question of the propriety of the death penalty and reached some conclusions. Nor is there anything to indicate that the Legislature intended to exclude some of such jurors. To the contrary, the indication is that the Legislature, as pointed out in Anderson, intended a jury which would reflect community views.
Nor can I agree that we would abolish capital punishment in this state by following the language of the statute and holding that a prospective juror may not be excluded for cause on the grounds of conscientious scruples against the death penalty unless those scruples would preclude finding the defendant guilty. The dissenting justices in Witherspoon suggested that the rule adopted by the majority in that ease would make “it impossible for States to get juries that will enforce the death penalty.’’ (391 U.S. at p. 532 [20 L.Ed.2d at p. 791].) Yet in the instant case the jury was selected in compliance with Witherspoon, and nevertheless voted in favor of the death penalty. Similarly, adherence to section 1074 will *819not automatically preclude imposition of the death penalty; it may make it more difficult to obtain a death penalty, but, this would be true only if there is a substantial and growing part of the public opposed to the death penalty. If there is such a part of the public, the rationale, offered in Anderson to justify granting the trier of fact absolute discretion as to penalty, requires that the opposition to the death penalty be given effect as reflecting community standards.
The broad rule of exclusion of jurors established by the prior eases has recently been overruled by Witherspoon v. Illinois, supra, 391 U.S. 510. (In re Anderson, supra, 69 Cal.2d 613, 619.) The rule followed by the majority in the instant case, excluding for cause jurors who are opposed to imposition of the death penalty in any circumstances, is not the rule which was followed in this state prior to Wither-spoon, and arguments based on long standing judicial construction are no longer in point.
In the light of the fact that the long existing rule in this state as to exclusion of jurors on the basis of their views as to the death penalty is abrogated by Witherspoon, we should reexamine the question whether a juror may be excluded for such views. When this is done in accordance with the unmistakable language used by the Legislature in section 1074 and the reasoning of the majority in Anderson, it is clear that a juror may be excused on the basis of his views on the death penalty only where his views would preclude a finding of guilt. None of the jurors excused for cause in the present case on the basis of their views as to penalty indicated that they could not impartially determine the issue of guilt, and it was error to exclude them. The error requires reversal of the judgment insofar as it relates to penalty.
I would reverse the judgment insofar as it relates to penalty, and affirm in all other respects.

 To those, as we, who have had the burden to review death penalty cases, it is apparent that the predilections of jurors with regard to the *815imposition of the death penalty run a wide gamut. On the one extreme, apart from those who do not believe that they would ever impose the death penalty, there are those who would greatly limit the death penalty to eases where an inmate having suffered prior convictions and already serving a sentence of life imprisonment, perhaps without possibility of parole, kills a guard. Others would limit the imposition of the maximum penalty to eases where the defendant has committed a sexual or non-economic crime or to where the defendant had previously committed a violent crime. Still others to where the defendant has committed an economic crime not the product of lust or anger. To the opposite extreme, some may feel that the principle of an eye for an eye should ordinarily govern and that he who kills should also die in the absence of peculiar and mitigating circumstances. Others may believe that the more heinous crime is where the victim lives but because of the crime is mentally incapacitated or physically maimed and that life imprisonment should not be imposed in such situations. There may be some who feel that life is the greater penalty and that death would involve an end to suffering and is not a substantial penalty. There are also many prospective jurors who have never given full consideration as to their attitude on the death penalty, and these jurors may not be able at the time of voir Aire to state their attitude to the penalty although during the trial they may develop rigid and extreme positions as to propriety or impropriety of the imposition of life or death. Without further laboring the point, it is clear that the predilections of jurors as to the propriety of the imposition of the death penalty or life imprisonment as an abstract matter are numerous and varied and the determination in a specific ease by a particular juror as to which of the two penalties is appropriate may be based on a single consideration or numerous considerations, many of which would be found to be unreasonable by other members of our society. It is probably sufficient to recognize that, as has been pointed out, "any particular factor may influence any two jurors in precisely the opposite manner.” (People v. Hines, 61 Cal.2d 164, 169 [37 Cal.Rptr. 622, 390 P.2d 398].)