What is the test for a jury to determine whether death is the appropriate penalty?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Johnsen, 10 Cal.5th 1116, 274 Cal.Rptr.3d 599, 480 P.3d 2 (Cal. 2021):

to abrogate their personal responsibility to determine the appropriate punishment" or "suggest to the jury that the responsibility for determining the appropriateness of the defendant's death rests elsewhere. " ( Sattiewhite , at p. 481, 174 Cal.Rptr.3d 1, 328 P.3d 1.) The prosecutor merely told jurors that they "owe [them]selves and [others] the imposition of a just and appropriate punishment" and that a death verdict would be consistent with societal values. (See People v. Zambrano (2007) 41 Cal.4th 1082, 1179, 63 Cal.Rptr.3d 297, 163 P.3d 4 ["the community ... has the right to express its values by imposing the severest punishment for the most aggravated crimes"], disapproved on other grounds in People v. Doolin (2009) 45 Cal.4th 390, 421, fn. 22, 87 Cal.Rptr.3d 209, 198 P.3d 11.) And as in Sattiewhite , the court here instructed the jury to determine "individually" whether death is the appropriate penalty.

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