Does section 190.3 of the California Penal Code require a trial court to instruct that certain sentencing factors (d), (e), (f) and (h) are relevant only as potential mitigators?

The trial court was not required to instruct that certain sentencing factors (specifically, section 190.3, factors (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), and (j) that are introduced by the phrase " whether or not ") are relevant only as potential mitigators. ( People v. Mendoza (2011) 52 Cal.4th 1056, 1097, 132 Cal.Rptr.3d 808, 263 P.3d 1.)

The California sentencing scheme does not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by denying capital defendants certain procedural safeguards afforded to noncapital defendants. ( People v. Johnson , supra , 62 Cal.4th at p. 657, 197 Cal.Rptr.3d 461, 364 P.3d 359.)