Does the prosecution need to ask the jury to identify with the surviving victim of a attempted murder, who also witnessed the murder of her two sons, at the penalty phase?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Mitcham, 1 Cal.4th 1027, 5 Cal.Rptr.2d 230, 824 P.2d 1277 (Cal. 1992):

In Haskett I, we held the prosecution's invitation to the jurors to identify with the surviving victim of an attempted murder, who also had witnessed the murder of her two sons, and to imagine the suffering the defendant's acts had inflicted upon her, was appropriate at the penalty phase. (Id., at pp. 863-864, 180 Cal.Rptr. 640, 640 P.2d 776.) Similarly, in People v. Clark, supra, 50 Cal.3d 583, 268 Cal.Rptr. 399, 789 P.2d 127, we held that the impact of a defendant's homicidal conduct on persons injured but not killed by that conduct, is relevant to the penalty decision. (Id., at p. 629, 268 Cal.Rptr. 399, 789 P.2d 127).

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