Does the denial of the right to a jury trial on aggravating circumstances apply to harmless error analysis?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Peralta, G036168 (Cal. App. 11/5/2007), G036168 (Cal. App. 2007):

The denial of the right to a jury trial on aggravating circumstances is subject to harmless error analysis: "[I]f a reviewing court concludes, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the jury, applying the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard, unquestionably would have found true at least a single aggravating circumstance had it been submitted to the jury, the Sixth Amendment error properly may be found harmless." (People v. Sandoval, supra, 41 Cal.4th at p. 839.)

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