Court Opinion

ID: 9547065
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:41:17.246511+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:17:16.041838
License: Public Domain

*426BROUSSARD, J.
I concur in the affirmance of the convictions and the findings of special circumstances. I dissent from the affirmance of the penalty.
The evidence showed that a substantial portion of defendant’s brain had been surgically removed prior to the events evidenced herein, and that there was a change in defendant’s character and conduct following the surgery from a kind and gentle person who was hardworking and responsible to a person who became unpredictable and violent, and who ultimately went berserk. Neither the instructions of the court nor the arguments of counsel properly advised the jury how to view this crucial evidence. A properly instructed jury might have concluded that the brain surgery causing the change in behavior was a substantial mitigating factor and spared defendant’s life.
Although the instructions and the arguments of the prosecutor and. defense counsel did not preclude consideration of the mitigating evidence, they likely misled the jury to believe that the brain surgery and its results could not be a mitigating factor. At best the instructions and arguments misled the jury to believe that the brain surgery and the change in character could only be a mitigating factor if they impaired defendant’s capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the law at the time of the offense.
The jury should have been advised that the brain surgery and its results could be considered a mitigating factor whether or not they affected defendant’s capacity at the time of the offense. The improper limitation on the jury’s consideration of the mitigating evidence may well have precluded the finding of any mitigating factor, as urged by the prosecutor. If so, the result was that the jury was compelled to return a verdict of death under the mandatory instruction limiting mitigating factors to those specified in the statute.
“This limitation on the jury’s consideration of evidence in mitigation of penalty in a capital case contravenes the mandate of the federal Constitution. In Lockett v. Ohio, supra, 438 U.S. 586, the Supreme Court held that ‘the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments require that the sentencer, in all but the rarest kind of capital case, not be precluded from considering, as a mitigating factor, any aspect of a defendant’s character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death. . . . [fl]. . . [A] statute that prevents the sentencer in all capital cases from giving independent mitigating weight to aspects of the defendant’s character and record and to circumstances of the offense proffered in mitigation creates the risk that the death penalty will be *427imposed in spite of factors which may call for a less severe penalty.’ (Id. at pp. 604, 605, italics in original, fns. omitted.)” (People v. Davenport (1985) 41 Cal.3d 247, 283 [221 Cal.Rptr. 794, 710 P.2d 861].)
In order to uphold the validity of the death penalty law, this court construed factor (k) of Penal Code section 190.3 to permit the jury to consider the general character, family background or other aspects of the defendant. (People v. Easley (1983) 34 Cal.3d 858, 877-878 [196 Cal.Rptr. 309, 671 P.2d 813].) We recognized that factor (k), referring to circumstances which extenuate the gravity of the crime, might be understood by a jury to relate only to the gravity of the crime and not to circumstances that relate to the general character, family background or other aspects of the defendant. In order to avoid misunderstanding in the future, we directed that juries in the future be given a clarifying instruction. (Id. at p. 878, fn. 10.)
In the instant case, the jury did not receive a clarifying instruction, and thus the jury was left with the ambiguity recognized in Easley.
The prosecutor unequivocally and erroneously stated that factor (k) was inapplicable because it related to the circumstances of the crimes and there was nothing mitigating or extenuating about the commission of the crimes. He never retreated from this position.1
Defense counsel did not challenge the prosecutor’s position that factor (k) related only to the circumstances of the crime. After discussing factors (a), the circumstances of the present conviction, (b), the other violent crimes, and (c), prior convictions, he extensively discussed factors (d) and (h) together because they both related to defendant’s condition at the time of the offenses. He then said that the next factors were inapplicable. After briefly discussing those factors, including factor (k), he discussed the instructions defining mitigating and permitting consideration of sympathy. He then made an ambiguous statement which conceivably could be interpreted as relating to factor (k) but more likely would be understood as *428arguments made on the basis of the instructions defining mitigating and permitting sympathy.2
Defense counsel’s ambiguous argument may not be viewed as eliminating the danger that the jury misunderstood factor (k). The jury by its verdict obviously rejected defense counsel’s argument, and even when defense counsel’s statements are clear and unambiguous in clarifying the meaning of the instructions, it is pure speculation to assume that the jury accepted that portion of counsel’s argument while rejecting unidentified other parts. When, as in the instant case, the jury is instructed only in the words of the statute, the prosecutor unequivocally and erroneously argues that factor (k) relates only to the circumstances of the crime, and defense counsel’s statement is ambiguous as to whether the brain surgery and its results could relate to factor (k), it is unreasonable to conclude that defense counsel’s ambiguous statement shows that the jury was not misled.
While the brain surgery evidence was discussed at length by both the prosecutor and defense counsel, neither ever stated that factor (k) was applicable, and the only reasonable conclusion is that the jury was misled into believing that the brain surgery evidence did not relate to factor (k). The effect of this misunderstanding or error was to improperly limit the jury’s consideration of the brain surgery evidence.
*429Both the prosecutor and defense counsel argued as to whether defendant’s loss of part of his brain could be considered under factor (h). However, factor (h) is limited to whether or not “at the time of the offense the capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was impaired as a result of mental disease or defect, or the effects of intoxication.” There was no evidence that defendant’s capacity was impaired at the time he killed Officer Swartz. The evidence was sharply conflicting as to whether defendant’s capacity to appreciate or conform was impaired at the time of the Aguilar killing, and, as the prosecutor pointed out, the jury at the guilt trial had rejected the claim that defendant was impaired to the extent that he did not know what he was doing.
If the jury concluded that defendant’s capacity to appreciate or conform “at the time of the offense” was not impaired, it was left with no mitigating factor to consider. Although the prosecutor and defense counsel discussed the brain surgery and its results in connection with the sympathy instruction, sympathy is not one of the factors enumerated by the trial court as a potentially mitigating factor. The jury was directed to weigh only the statutory factors, and the absence of any mitigating factor—with the presence of clear aggravating factors—would preclude a verdict of life without possibility of parole. (See Hitchcock v. Dugger (1987) 481 U.S. 393, 398-399 [95 L.Ed.2d 347, 352-353, 107 S.Ct. 1821, 1824].)
Moreover, even if the jury concluded that defendant’s capacity to appreciate or conform at the time of the Aguilar offense was impaired, the mitigating factor is limited to that impairment and would not be entitled to the full consideration and weight it might receive if considered under factor (k). Obviously an argument that defendant’s life should be spared because life had already treated him cruelly was a much stronger argument in the circumstances than an argument based on extenuation of only one of the two murders. (See People v. Lanphear (1984) 36 Cal.3d 163, 168, fn. 1 [203 Cal.Rptr. 122, 680 P.2d 1081].)
I conclude that the prosecutor’s argument in the absence of a clarifying instruction improperly precluded a finding of any mitigating circumstance unless the jury found that the brain surgery and its results affected defendant’s capacity at the time of the offenses.
The error is prejudicial in that it probably took from the jury the crucial issue presented by the strong mitigating evidence. The jury was instructed that it “shall” impose the death penalty if aggravating circumstances outweighed mitigating circumstances. If the jury concluded that defendant’s capacity to appreciate and conform was not impaired during either killing, *430the death penalty was automatic because there were obviously strong aggravating circumstances and no mitigating circumstances to weigh against them. If the jury concluded that there was some impairment during the Aguilar killing, it was nevertheless limited in considering the mitigating effect to the impairment “at the time of the offense,” rather than considering as a mitigating factor the change in defendant’s character resulting from removal of a substantial portion of his brain.
A properly instructed jury might have found that the removal of a substantial portion of defendant’s brain and the change in his character and conduct following the surgery from a kind and gentle person who was hard working and responsible to a violent and uncontrolled person was mitigating under factor (k) and warranted compassion. In my view there is a reasonable possibility that a properly instructed jury would have concluded that life without possibility of parole was the appropriate penalty.
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied June 30, 1988. Broussard, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

The prosecutor went through each of the statutory factors in order using numbers rather than letters. When he came to factor (j), he stated: “Accomplice or minor participation. That, number 10, more or less goes with number 5.
“Obviously, Jim Odle was not an accomplice or a minor participant, but really in fairness I will just say that that really doesn’t apply to this case because, obviously, by your verdict you found he was the major participant.
“Other extenuating circumstances regarding the gravity of the crimes.
“That is, is there anything about the crimes that you can think of—sit down and say to yourself I’m going to try to think of anything in Jim Odle’s favor regarding how he committed those crimes which are extenuating, and you won’t be able to do it because there is nothing extenuating about those crimes.”

In discussing defense counsel’s argument, the majority at page 419 substitute “[under factor (k)]” for “in the other circumstance which is not a legal excuse” which I have italicized in the quotation below. Although there may be some ambiguity, the substitution is not warranted.
After discussing factor (j), defense counsel stated: “The final factor is any other circumstance which extenuates or mitigates.
“Now, what the jury has the duty to do in a penalty case is really to consider anything that they feel or an individual feels is appropriate.
“As an example: You are allowed to consider mitigation or extenuation. And the Judge will tell you that ‘mitigation’ is defined as an abatement or diminution of a penalty or punishment.
“Mitigating circumstances are such as to not constitute a justification or excuse of the offense in question, but which in fairness and mercy may be considered as extenuating or reducing the degree of moral culpability.
“So the concept of mercy enters your deliberation which it does not in the guilt phase.
“You will be instructed as follows: The Judge will tell you that you were previously in the guilt phase of this trial that sympathy or pity for a defendant shall not influence your consideration of the evidence.
“In this the penalty phase of the trial the jury may properly consider sympathy or pity for a defendant in determining whether to show mercy and spare the defendant from execution. That is different.
“So in the other circumstance which is not a legal excuse, I’m not talking about excusing his conduct, I’m talking about considering his conduct and trying to make a determination whether there is an extenuating circumstance that is sufficient in your mind not to require him to be executed.”