Does lack of remorse constitute an aggravating factor in sentencing?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Montes, 169 Cal.Rptr.3d 279, 320 P.3d 729, 58 Cal.4th 809 (Cal. 2014):

Defendant is correct that the lack of testimony or evidence of postcrime remorse does not fit within any statutory sentencing factor, and thus should not be urged as aggravating. ( People v. Pollock, supra, 32 Cal.4th at p. 1184, 13 Cal.Rptr.3d 34, 89 P.3d 353.) Defendant presented no evidence of postcrime remorse, and the prosecutor commented that, although the defense had called several witnesses, it had not put on any evidence or testimony that defendant has expressed remorse, sorrow, sympathy, or pity. Here, where the prosecutor did not suggest that lack of remorse was an aggravating factor, he properly commented on defendant's lack of remorse as relevant to the question of whether remorse is present as a mitigating circumstance.

[169 Cal.Rptr.3d 356]

( People v. Mendoza (2000) 24 Cal.4th 130, 187, 99 Cal.Rptr.2d 485, 6 P.3d 150;People v. Davis (1995) 10 Cal.4th 463, 537, 41 Cal.Rptr.2d 826, 896 P.2d 119.)

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