Cite as: 512 U. S. 967 (1994)
Blackmun, J., dissenting
crime.16 Far from applying any narrowing construction, the California Supreme Court has described age as a "metonym for any age-related matter suggested by the evidence or by common experience or morality that might reasonably inform the choice of penalty." People v. Lucky, 45 Cal. 3d 259, 302, 753 P. 2d 1052, 1080 (1988), cert. denied, 488 U. S. 1034 (1989).
Nor do jurors find meaningful guidance from "the presence or absence of criminal activity by the defendant which involved the use or attempted use of force or violence." Although the California Supreme Court has held that "criminal" is "limited to conduct that violates a penal statute," People v. Wright, 52 Cal. 3d 367, 425, 802 P. 2d 221, 259 (1990) (emphasis in original), and that "force or violence" excludes violence to property, People v. Boyd, 38 Cal. 3d 762, 700 P. 2d 782 (1985), that court has not required such an instruction, and petitioner Tuilaepa's jurors were not so instructed. This left the prosecution free to introduce evidence of "trivial incidents of misconduct and ill temper," id., at 774, 700 P. 2d, at 791, and left the jury free to find an aggravator on that basis.17
16 See, e. g., People v. Williams, Cal. Sup. Ct. No. S004522, id., at 20, n. 34 (teens); People v. Avena, Cal. Sup. Ct. No. S004422, ibid. (teens); People v. Bean, 46 Cal. 3d 919, 952, n. 18, 760 P. 2d 996, 1017, n. 18 (1988) (age 20); People v. Coleman, 48 Cal. 3d 112, 153-154, 768 P. 2d 32, 55-56 (1989) (age 22), cert. denied, 494 U. S. 1038 (1990); People v. Gonzalez, 51 Cal. 3d 1179, 1233, 800 P. 2d 1159, 1187 (1990) (age 31), cert. denied, 502 U. S. 835 (1991); People v. McLain, 46 Cal. 3d 97, 111-112, 757 P. 2d 569, 576-577 (1988) (age 41), cert. denied, 489 U. S. 1072 (1989); People v. Douglas, 50 Cal. 3d 468, 538, 788 P. 2d 640, 681 (1990) (age 56), cert. denied, 498 U. S. 1110 (1991).
17 Even with the limiting construction, "prior criminal activity involving force or violence" is far more open ended than factors invalidated by other state courts as vague or subjective. See, e. g., Arnold v. State, 236 Ga. 534, 540, 224 S. E. 2d 386, 391 (1976) (invalidating aggravating circumstance that the " 'murder . . . was committed by a person . . . who has a substantial history of serious assaultive convictions' "); State v. David, 468
989
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