Court Opinion

ID: 9633592
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:53:52.786199+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:38.085882
License: Public Domain

SCHAUER, J.
I concur generally in the reasoning of the opinion authored by Mr. Justice Traynor; in the affirmance of the judgment in all respects other than as to penalty; and in the reversal of the judgment insofar as it relates to the penalty phase because of the instruction on possibility of parole and possibility of pardon or reduction of sentence by the Governor, the giving of which we held to be in error in People v. Morse (1964) 60 Cal.2d 631, 636 [la]-653 [Id] [36 Cal.Rptr. 201, 388 P.2d 33]. However, in weighing the effect of that error (i.e., articulating the basis for our conclusion of *163prejudice), Justice Traynor’s opinion appears to stress only the fact that the jury interrupted their deliberations to ask several questions relating to the probability of defendant’s being paroled and the likelihood of recidivism in such event. In concurring, I emphasize that the record before us also contains the two other elements accentuated in Morse (at pp. 652-653 [6a] of 60 Cal.2d) as contributing to the totality “of the entire cause” (Cal. Const., art VI, § 4%) upon which totality we found prejudicial effect of the error: i.e., (1) the fact that (as Justice Traynor impliedly recognizes by referring to the jury’s request to “recall” the witness Spangler) a substantial mass of evidence was introduced as to the asserted statistical averages of prison terms actually served by persons sentenced to life imprisonment for first degree murder, and (2) the fact that the prosecutor (and likewise defense counsel) commented at length on this material in argument to the jury. I conclude that all of these elements (i.e., the totality “of the entire cause” as contemplated by the explicit mandate of our Constitution) combine to make it appear “reasonably probable that a result more favorable to defendant as to penalty would have been reached in the absence of the error.” (People v. Morse (1964) supra, 60 Cal.2d 631, 653 [6a]; People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818, 835 [12] -838 [13] [299P.2d243].)