Tag Archives: CC 765


Aggravating Circumstances: Report of Rumors Is Not Evidence of “Solid Value”
September 26th, 2022

In People v. Penunuri (2018) 5 Cal.5th 126, 168-169 the judge erred in allowing evidence of other violent criminal activity under Penal Code section 190.3, factor (b), concerning a nonfatal shooting that was committed two months before the capital murders because there was insufficient evidence that defendant “committed that assault” and “[t]here was no direct […]


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Death Penalty Mitigation: Prosecutor’s Failure to Prove Other Violent Crimes or Felony Convictions Is a Mitigating Circumstance
October 15th, 2021

CC 763 instructs the jurors to consider, inter alia, the following factors in deciding whether to impose a death judgement: (b) Whether or not the defendant has engaged in violent criminal activity other than the crime[s] of which the defendant was convicted in this case. Violent criminal activity is criminal activity involving the unlawful use, […]


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Should Penalty Phase Jury Be Instructed to Consider Both the Defendant’s Chronological and Psychological Age?
November 10th, 2019

CJ 763(i) tells the jury to consider “the defendant’s age at the time of the crime[s]” in deciding whether or not the defendant should be sentenced to death. This factor should permit the jurors to consider the defendant’s chronological and/or psychological age in mitigation.   In Roper v. Simmons (2005) 543 U.S. 551, 570, 125 […]


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Death Penalty; Factor B (Other Violent Conduct) – Judge Decides Whether Prior Conduct is:
July 30th, 2018

In People v. Manibusan (2013) 58 Cal.4th 40 the California Supreme Court held that although the jury decides whether alleged acts of other violent criminal activity (PC 190.4 (b)) occurred, “the characterization of those acts as involving an express or implied use of force of violence, or the threat thereof, is a legal matter for […]


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Death Penalty; Factor B (Other Violent Conduct) – Applies to Aiders and Abettor
July 23rd, 2018

Aggravating evidence of other violent criminal activity under Penal Code section 190.3, factor (b), includes other crimes in which defendant was an aider and abettor “‘whether or not the defendant’s actions were themselves violent….’” (People v. (George Brett) Williams (2013) 56 Cal.4th 630, 685)


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Death Penalty: Factor B (Other Violent Conduct) — Notice
July 17th, 2018

People v. Whalen (2013) 56 Cal.4th 1, 73-74 held that the prosecution’s notice of other violent conduct offered in aggravation was sufficient where it “identified the alleged prior convictions by date, county of conviction, and type of offense … [and] also identified the alleged other criminal activity by date or approximate date, location, and type […]


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