Court Opinion

ID: 9630980
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:26:13.946227+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:06:49.687707
License: Public Domain

KENNARD, J.
I respectfully dissent. The trial court’s responses to the questions asked by the jury during deliberations erroneously led the jury to believe that it could not consider in mitigation defendant’s mental condition at the time he committed the murders. The jury’s confusion is clearly demonstrated by a note in which it informed the trial court that one of its members was using defendant’s mental state as a mitigating circumstance “even though you, the judge, have said we can’t use it.” Upon receiving this note, the court was obligated to dispel the jury’s confusion on the issue. Its failure to do so was prejudicial error.
There is, of course, no question that a jury deliberating the question of penalty in a capital case must be permitted to consider the defendant’s mental or emotional state as a factor in mitigation. The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires that, before determining whether to impose the death penalty, the jury consider the circumstances relating both to the character and background of the individual offender and the circumstances of the offense. (Eddings v. Oklahoma (1981) 455 U.S. 104, 112 [71 L.Ed.2d 1, 9, 102 S.Ct. 869].) As the United States Supreme Court recently stated, “a sentencer may not be precluded from giving effect to all mitigating evidence.” (McKoy v. North Carolina (1990) 494 U.S. 433, _ [108 L.Ed.2d 369, 378-379, 110 S.Ct. 1227, 1231]; accord Skipper v. South Carolina (1986) 476 U.S. 1, 4 [90 L.Ed.2d 1, 6, 106 S.Ct. 1669]; Mills v. Maryland (1988) 486 U.S. 367, 374-375 [100 L.Ed.2d 384, 393-394, 108 S.Ct. 1860].)
In his penalty phase presentation in this case, defendant attempted to persuade the jury that it should have a “lingering doubt” whether he had committed the murders; he did not rely on mitigating circumstances relating to his mental state at the time of the offenses. Nevertheless, evidence *262was presented as part of the prosecution’s case-in-chief from which the jury could have reasonably found that defendant was suffering from a mental or emotional disturbance. After raping and trying to kill his half-sister, defendant killed her children by repeatedly stabbing them with a knife. As the majority acknowledges, a jury could consider these unusual facts as evidence that defendant was suffering from a mental or emotional disturbance when he committed the offenses. (Maj. opn., ante, p. 229, fn. 5.)
The record shows that during its lengthy deliberations the jury recognized that mental disturbance was potentially a mitigating factor in the case. To ascertain whether it would be proper to consider defendant’s mental state as a mitigating circumstance, the jury asked the trial court four questions.1 These questions, and the court’s answers, were as follows:
1. (February 29, 1984.) The jury: “Do we have to have expert testimony as to mental or emotional disturbance to consider it as a mitigating circumstance?” The court: “Mental or emotional disturbance is not always necessarily proved by the testimony of an expert such as a psychiatrist. It may be proved by any other testimonial evidence but not by speculation.”
2. (Two hours later.) The jury: “Do we have the option of concluding from the nature of the crimes committed that [defendant] may be/is mentally or emotionally disturbed based on the testimony regarding the nature of the crimes?” The court: “The attorneys and I have consulted and this is our request: Will you please expand and clarify as much as possible what you have in mind so that we can understand it a little better and answer your question. The minute I receive that, I will be in touch with the attorneys, and we will try to answer it for you.”
3. (March 1, 1984.) The jury: “There was to be a question asked of the judge, whether we could consider insanity based on the act of repeated stabbings of the victim.” The court: “The defendant is presumed to be sane. The jurors cannot consider insanity as a mitigating factor.”
4. (March 5, 1984.) The jury: “We have one juror who continues to use insanity or mental disturbance as a mitigating circumstance even though you, the judge, have said we can’t use it. He refuses to discuss the case any more. Is there anything you can do, being he is disregarding your ruling completely?” The court questioned this juror individually on two occasions. One of the questions asked was, “Do you use insanity or mental disturbance as a mitigating circumstance?” The juror answered, “No.” The next day, the jury returned a verdict imposing the death sentence.
*263These questions and answers indicate that the jury was unsure whether, when the facts of the crimes constituted the only evidence presented of defendant’s state of mind, the jury could properly consider in mitigation defendant’s mental state ar the time of the murders.
The jury’s first question focused on the absence of any expert testimony about defendant’s mental state, and the trial court correctly informed the jury that expert testimony was not required. But the trial court also told the jury that it could not find mental disturbance based on “speculation.” This response apparently did not resolve all of the jury’s uncertainties, for it then asked whether it would be proper to infer mental or emotional disturbance from “the testimony regarding the nature of the crimes.” The trial court did not understand the thrust of the jury’s question, and asked the jury to come back later and “clarify” it.
The majority asserts that the jury never attempted to obtain such “clarification.” (Maj. opn., ante, p. 225, fn. 2.) I disagree. In its third question, the jury asked whether it could “consider insanity based on the act of repeated stabbings of the victims.” This was essentially the same as the previous question, with the word “insanity” substituted for “mental or emotional disturbance.” This time, the trial court told the jury that insanity “cannot [be considered] as a mitigating factor” because defendant is “presumed sane.”
The majority correctly recognizes that defendant’s mental or emotional disturbance could be considered by the jury in mitigation at the penalty phase. It concludes, however, that insanity was not an issue in this case and thus it was proper for the trial court to instruct the jury not to consider insanity in determining penalty. (Maj. opn., ante, pp. 231-233.) For the reasons discussed in Justice Mosk’s dissenting opinion, I doubt that this is so.
But assuming for argument’s sake that the majority is correct, the distinction between insanity, which the jury was precluded from considering, and mental or emotional disturbance, which the jury could consider, is then of critical importance. Yet the trial court never instructed the jury on this point, and the jury’s questions reveal that it did not draw such a distinction. As with the first two questions set forth above, the purpose of the third question was to determine whether, based solely on the facts of the offense (as the jury put it, “based on the act of repeated stabbings of the victim”), the jury could infer that defendant was mentally or emotionally disturbed and could consider such disturbance as a mitigating circumstance. From the trial court’s answer, a reasonable juror would conclude, erroneously, that it could not do so.
*264Any doubt in this regard is laid to rest by the fourth question, in which a majority of the jury (apparently 11 of the 12) complained that 1 juror “continues to use insanity or mental disturbance as a mitigating circumstance even though you, the judge, have said we can’t use it.” This communication is significant for two reasons. First, it shows that the jury considered insanity and mental disturbance to be essentially synonymous terms. Second, and most important, it clearly demonstrates that the jury erroneously believed that mental disturbance could not be considered as a mitigating circumstance.
Upon receiving this communication from the jury, it was incumbent upon the trial court to undo the consequences of its earlier instructions and to correct the jury’s misconception. Even if the court’s original instructions had been correct, once it became aware that the jury was confused as to the law it had a duty to correct the confusion. “ ‘Just as the law imposes a sua sponte obligation to instruct on certain principles of law in the first place (those rules openly and closely connected with the case) so does it impose on the judge a duty to reinstruct on the point if it becomes apparent to [the judge] that the jury may be confused on the law.’” (People v. Vela (1985) 172 Cal.App.3d 237, 241 [218 Cal.Rptr. 161], quoting People v. Valenzuela (1977) 76 Cal.App.3d 218, 221 [142 Cal.Rptr. 655].) Here, the jury’s communication showed that it had seriously gone astray; the trial court, therefore, was compelled to clarify the matter.
But, far from correcting the jury’s misimpression, the trial court’s actions had precisely the opposite effect; the court improperly reinforced the notion that the jury could not consider mental disturbance. The court proceeded to question the recalcitrant juror, and specifically asked him whether he was considering insanity or mental disturbance in mitigation. This question hammered home to that juror that the other jurors had correctly interpreted the trial court’s instructions, and that the jury could not consider mental disturbance in any form as a mitigating circumstance.
The majority concludes that the jury was not confused. It asserts that “what divided the jurors was not whether they could consider defendant’s mental state as a mitigating factor but rather whether there was any evidence in the record to support that mitigating factor.” (Maj. opn., ante, p. 234.) This analysis is inconsistent with the fourth question set forth above. If the jury was merely involved in a dispute about the sufficiency of the evidence, why did a majority of jurors complain that one juror was refusing to follow the trial court’s instructions? The conclusion is inescapable that a majority of the jurors believed the court had instructed them not to consider defendant’s mental state as a mitigating circumstance.
*265The error may not be deemed harmless. “Where original instructions are inadequate, and the jury asks questions indicating their confusion and need for further explanation, failure to give proper additional instructions is usually reversible error. (7 Witkin, Cal. Procedure, [(3d ed. 1985)] Trial, § 305, p. 303.).” (Sesler v. Ghumman (1990) 219 Cal.App.3d 218, 227 [268 Cal.Rptr. 70].) Here the court’s failure to give additional instructions prevented the jury from considering mitigating evidence presented at the penalty phase, an error of constitutional dimension. (Skipper v. South Carolina, supra, 476 U.S. 1.) The jury’s questions demonstrate that it was giving the question of mental disturbance careful consideration.2 Under these circumstances, it appears “reasonably likely” that the error “may have affected the jury’s decision to impose the death sentence.” (476 U.S. at p. 8 [90 L.Ed.2d at p. 9].)
I would reverse the judgment of death.
Broussard, J., concurred.
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied February 20, 1991. Mosk, J., Broussard, J., and Kennard, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

 The jury also asked a number of other questions, which are set forth in the majority opinion.

 The law under which this case was tried provided that if the jury had been unable to reach a verdict, retrial would have been barred, and a sentence of life without possibility of parole would have been imposed. (Former Pen. Code, § 190.4, added by Stats. 1977, ch. 316, § 12, p. 1260.) Thus, even if only one juror would have found the evidence of mental disturbance compelling, the death sentence could not have been imposed.