Can a defense counsel use voir dire to explore the general views of a prospective jury in a death penalty trial?

Although the trial court's ruling was incorrect in this one respect, the ruling did not restrict voir dire. During the death-qualification process, defense counsel was permitted to fully explore the prospective jurors' death penalty views as applied to the general facts of the case, whether or not those facts had been expressly charged. Even assuming that the trial court's erroneous view of the grounds for disqualification in some way inhibited questioning during the death-qualification phase of jury selection, counsel was free to use the general voir dire to explore the prospective jurors' reactions to the facts and circumstances of the case. Thus, defendant was not prejudiced. (See People v. DeSantis (1992) 2 Cal.4th 1198, 1217-1218, 9 Cal.Rptr.2d 628, 831 P.2d 1210.)