Is victim impact evidence admissible as a circumstance of the crime?

results in a trial that is fundamentally unfair. [Citations.] Likewise, under state law, victim impact evidence is admissible as a circumstance of the crime under section 190.3, factor (a), so long as it is not so inflammatory as to elicit from the jury an irrational or emotional response untethered to the facts of the case. [Citations.] (People v. Pearson (2013) 56 Cal.4th 393, 466467, 154 Cal.Rptr.3d 541, 297 P.3d 793.) [T]he state has a legitimate

[355 P.3d 475]

interest in counteracting the mitigating evidence which the defendant is entitled to put in, by reminding the sentencer that just as the murderer should be considered as an individual, so too the victim is an individual whose death represents a unique loss to society and in particular to [her] family. ' (People v. Linton, supra, 56 Cal.4th at p. 1203, 158 Cal.Rptr.3d 521, 302 P.3d 927.)

[61 Cal.4th 1285]