What considerations must a jury consider when making a death penalty determination?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Sully, 283 Cal.Rptr. 144, 53 Cal.3d 1195, 812 P.2d 163 (Cal. 1991):

The same considerations apply here. The jury was told its penalty determination must be based on the evidence in the record considered in light of the statutory factors. As the court stated in its penalty phase charge: "In weighing the various circumstances, you simply determine under the relevant evidence which penalty is justified and appropriate by considering the totality of the aggravating circumstances with the totality of the mitigating circumstances. To return a judgment of death, each of you must be persuaded that the aggravating evidence is so substantial in comparison with the mitigating circumstances that it warrants death instead of life without parole." The prosecutor carefully limited his final argument to an analysis of the evidence as it pertained to the listed factors. There is no basis for an inference that the jury considered anything else in its penalty decision. (See People v. Howard, supra, 44 Cal.3d at pp. 440-441, 243 Cal.Rptr. 842, 749 P.2d 279.)

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