Court Opinion

ID: 9629034
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:36:09.904613+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:14.106670
License: Public Domain

BIRD, C. J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I agree with the majority opinion, but I have one significant reservation. I cannot agree with the majority’s decision to elevate the reasoning of Cantrell1 and Thornton2 to create a categorical exception to the “per se reversal” rule. The majority’s newly created “Cantrell-Thornton exception” constitutes a clear invasion by the appellate courts of the exclusive province of the jury.
Justice Mosk, joined by the late Justice Tobriner, pointed out in his dissent in Thornton that the rule set forth in that case was wrong. As Justice Mosk so aptly expressed, Thornton is the classic “hard case” which makes bad law. (Thornton, supra, 11 Cal.3d at p. 783 (dis. opn. of Mosk, J.).) By adopting Thornton here, the majority perpetuate that mistake and substitute this court’s judgment for that of the jury.
Under our system of justice, juries alone have been entrusted with the responsibility of determining guilt or innocence. (Weiler v. United States (1945) 323 U.S. 606, 611 [89 L.Ed. 495, 499, 65 S.Ct. 548, 156 A.L.R. 496].) An accused “has a constitutional right to have the jury determine every material issue presented by the evidence. Regardless of how overwhelming the evidence of guilt may be, the denial of such a fundamental right ... is a miscarriage of justice . . . .” (People v. Modesto (1963) 59 *559Cal.2d 722, 730 [31 Cal.Rptr. 225, 382 P.2d 33]; see also People v. Sedeno (1974) 10 Cal.3d 703, 720 [112 Cal.Rptr. 1, 518 P.2d 913].)
Even the majority recognize that the courts cannot “extend a defendant less protection with regard to the elements of a special circumstance than for the elements of a criminal charge.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 552.) However, under the majority’s Cantrell-Thornton exception, it is an appellate court that will determine whether the accused entertained the intent to kill required when a felony-murder special circumstance is charged.
The majority apply the Cantrell-Thornton exception to all cases “where the parties recognized that intent to kill was in issue, presented all evidence at their command on that issue, and in which the record not only establishes the necessary intent as a matter of law but shows the contrary evidence not worthy of consideration.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 556.)
The appellate court will have to divine whether (1) the litigants recognized that an intent to kill was in issue; (2) the parties presented all the evidence at their command; and (3) the evidence established the requisite intent. Giving an appellate court this role undermines the jury’s power to determine whether an accused entertained the intent to kill that is a prerequisite to a finding of a felony-murder special circumstance.
The majority recognize that if a jury is not instructed that intent is an element of any felony-murder special circumstance, that issue is essentially removed from a jury’s consideration. As a result, the accused is denied the right to a jury trial on an element of the special circumstance allegation. (See maj. opn., ante, at p. 554.) The majority accept a “per se reversal” rule for Carlos3 error, yet they carve out an exception to that rule as it pertains to the issue of intent in a felony-murder special circumstance allegation. Such a rule defies logic.
The Supreme Court, in Connecticut v. Johnson (1983) 460 U.S. 73 [74 L.Ed.2d 823, 103 S.Ct. 969], stated that “[i]f the jury may have failed to consider evidence of intent, a reviewing court cannot hold that the error did not contribute to the verdict. The fact that the reviewing court may view the evidence of intent as overwhelming is then simply irrelevant. To allow a reviewing court to perform the jury’s function of evaluating the evidence of intent, when the jury never may have performed that function, would give too much weight to society’s interest in punishing the guilty and too little weight to the method by which decisions of guilt are to be made.” (Id., at p. 86, fn. omitted [74 L.Ed.2d at pp. 833-834, 103 S.Ct. at p. 977], italics *560added [hereafter Johnson].) Clearly, the Cantrell-Thornton exception would not pass muster under this precedent.4
I cannot endorse a holding which substitutes the belief of appellate judges for a jury’s finding as to the truth of a special circumstance allegation. (See Bollenbach v. United States (1946) 326 U.S. 607, 615 [90 L.Ed. 350, 355, 66 S.Ct. 402].)
Mosk, J., concurred.
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied October 29, 1984, and the opinion was modified to read as printed above. Bird, C. J., and Lucas, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

People v. Cantrell (1973) 8 Cal.3d 672 [105 Cal.Rptr. 792, 504 P.2d 1256].

People v. Thornton (1974) 11 Cal.3d 738 [114 Cal.Rptr. 467, 523 P.2d 267].

Carlos v. Superior Court (1983) 35 Cal.3d 131 [197 Cal.Rptr. 79, 672 P.2d 862].

The majority assert that the four dissenting justices in Johnson would be “sympathetic” (maj. opn., ante, at p. 556) to such an exception. However, the Johnson dissent explicitly distinguished the case it had before it from cases where the jury was prevented from considering the issue of intent. (Johnson, supra, 460 U.S. at pp. 96-97, and fn. 3 [74 L.Ed.2d at p. 840, 103 S.Ct. at pp. 982-983] (dis. opn. of Powell, J.).) Moreover, the dissent indicated that if “an execution-style slaying occurred, in which the defendant tied up his victim and shot him repeatedly in the head, it would be clear beyond a reasonable doubt that the presence of a conclusive presumption instruction would not have affected a jury's finding of intent.” (Id., at p. 99 [74 L.Ed.2d at p. 842, 103 S.Ct. at p. 984], italics added.) The dissent’s statement was directed only to those cases where the jury had explicitly determined the issue of intent. Thus, it is doubtful that a majority of the Supreme Court would accept the Cantrell-Thornton exception which this court carves out today.