People v. Bright

909 P.2d 1354, 12 Cal. 4th 652, 49 Cal. Rptr. 2d 732, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 870, 96 Daily Journal DAR 1290, 1996 Cal. LEXIS 200
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 5, 1996
DocketS044186
StatusPublished
Cited by133 cases

This text of 909 P.2d 1354 (People v. Bright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Bright, 909 P.2d 1354, 12 Cal. 4th 652, 49 Cal. Rptr. 2d 732, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 870, 96 Daily Journal DAR 1290, 1996 Cal. LEXIS 200 (Cal. 1996).

Opinions

Opinion

GEORGE, J.

Penal Code section 6641 prescribes the punishment for an attempt to commit a crime, providing in part that, if the offense attempted is one for which the maximum sentence is life imprisonment or death, the [656]*656person guilty of that attempt shall be subject to the punishment of imprisonment for a term of five, seven, or nine years. (§ 664, subd. (a).) As amended in 1986, the statute further provides that when the crime attempted is “willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder,” the person guilty of that attempt shall be subject to the punishment of imprisonment for life with the possibility of parole. (Ibid.)

The issue for our determination is whether, for double jeopardy purposes (U.S. Const., 5th Amend.; Cal. Const., art. I, § 15), the foregoing provision of section 664 prescribing a sentence of life imprisonment for an attempt to commit murder that is willful, deliberate, and premeditated establishes a greater degree of attempted murder, i.e., an offense of “first degree attempted murder,” or, instead, constitutes a penalty provision that prescribes the circumstances under which a person convicted of the offense of attempted murder will be subject to a greater base term 2 In the present case, the trial court determined that the offense of attempted willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder (as charged in the information) constituted a greater degree of “simple” attempted murder, and that the jury’s verdict convicting defendant of attempted murder alone, without a finding on the allegation that the offense attempted was willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder, thus constituted an acquittal of the so-called greater offense. On this basis the trial court ruled that double jeopardy principles barred retrial of the separate allegation, and dismissed that allegation.

We conclude that the provision in section 664, subdivision (a), imposing a greater punishment for an attempt to commit a murder that is “willful, deliberate, and premeditated” does not create a greater degree of attempted murder but, rather, constitutes a penalty provision that prescribes an increase [657]*657in punishment (a greater base term) for the offense of attempted murder. The jury verdict convicting defendant of attempted murder, without a finding on the penalty allegation, therefore did not constitute an acquittal of a so-called greater degree of attempted murder. Accordingly, the double jeopardy prohibition does not bar retrial of the penalty allegation.

For these reasons, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which reversed the trial court’s dismissal of the allegation that the attempted murder was willful, deliberate, and premeditated.

I

On June 6, 1992, in the early morning hours, San Diego County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Kain observed defective brake lights on a vehicle driven by defendant James Michael Bright, and decided to detain the vehicle. As Kain maneuvered his patrol car behind that of defendant and signaled for him to stop, a passenger in defendant’s vehicle observed defendant retrieve a .357 magnum from under the seat. Bright continued to drive while holding the weapon in his hand. He did not respond immediately to the patrol car signal, but waited to pull over at a location where the deputy would be able to approach only the driver’s side of the vehicle and not the passenger side. As the deputy approached defendant’s automobile on foot, defendant aimed his weapon at him and fired all six rounds, wounding the deputy with several bullets in the waist, abdomen, and leg. Defendant then drove off.

Deputy Kain was able to crawl back to his patrol car and call for assistance, providing a description of defendant and his vehicle. Nine days later defendant was arrested.

By information filed July 30,1992, the People charged that defendant “did willfully, deliberately, and premeditatedly attempt to murder Paul Kain, a human being,” in violation of sections 664 and 189, further alleging that in the commission of this offense defendant personally used a firearm in violation of section 12022.5, subdivision (a), discharged a firearm from a motor vehicle in violation of section 12022.55, and inflicted great bodily injury in violation of section 12022.7. The information also charged that defendant, a felon, did willfully and unlawfully possess a firearm in violation of section 12021, subdivision (a).

[658]*658At trial, the jury was instructed on attempted murder in accordance with the standard instruction, CALJIC No. 8.66 (5th ed. 1988),3 and was instructed separately on the premeditation allegation in accordance with CALJIC No. 8.67 (5th ed. 1988), which informed the jury, among other matters, that “[i]f you find the defendant guilty of attempt to commit murder, you must determine whether this allegation is true or not true.”4

During its deliberations, the jury submitted a note to the trial court requesting clarification as to whether they could return a verdict on the charge of attempted murder even if they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the allegation of premeditation. The trial court initially instructed the jury that it must unanimously agree on the allegation of premeditation before rendering a verdict on the charge of attempted murder. The following day, however, after the prosecutor brought to the court’s attention decisional authority inconsistent with the court’s earlier response to the jury’s inquiry, the court directed the jury to disregard its earlier instruction and told them that “you may make a finding of guilty or not guilty as to the attempted murder charge and consider separately whether you can resolve the question of premeditation if that resolution is called for.” Defense counsel did not object to this corrected instruction.

The jury returned a verdict convicting defendant of attempted murder but was unable to make a finding on the premeditation allegation.5 The verdict form reflected the jury’s finding that defendant was guilty of attempted murder, but left blank a space for the separate finding as to whether this offense was premeditated. The trial court declared a mistrial as to that allegation, which was set for retrial. The trial court thereafter denied a defense motion to dismiss the premeditation allegation on the ground of insufficiency of the evidence.

Defendant subsequently filed another motion to dismiss the premeditation allegation (before a judge other than the trial judge, who had died following [659]*659trial) on the ground that defendant already had been placed in jeopardy on the charge of attempted premeditated murder, and that principles of double jeopardy barred retrial of that charge. The thrust of the defense argument was as follows: the offense of attempted murder is divided into degrees— first degree attempted murder and second degree attempted murder. Attempted premeditated murder, within the meaning of section 664, subdivision (a), constitutes first degree attempted murder. In the present case, the information alleged that defendant “did willfully, deliberately, and premeditatedly attempt to murder,” thereby charging him with first degree attempted murder.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Flores CA5
California Court of Appeal, 2025
People v. Serrano
California Court of Appeal, 2024
People v. Anderson CA2/4
California Court of Appeal, 2020
People v. Nash
California Court of Appeal, 2020
People v. Escarcega
California Court of Appeal, 2019
People v. Lopez CA4/1
California Court of Appeal, 2016
People v. Gonzalez
241 Cal. App. 4th 1103 (California Court of Appeal, 2015)
People v. Martinez CA4/2
California Court of Appeal, 2015
People v. Sedillo
235 Cal. App. 4th 1037 (California Court of Appeal, 2015)
People v. Rivera CA3
California Court of Appeal, 2015
People v. Prado CA4/1
California Court of Appeal, 2014
People v. Cordova CA4/2
California Court of Appeal, 2014
People v. Chiu
325 P.3d 972 (California Supreme Court, 2014)
People v. Simon CA2/8
California Court of Appeal, 2014
People v. Solis
California Court of Appeal, 2014
P. v. Hayes CA4/2
California Court of Appeal, 2013
P. v. Schwenk CA1/1
California Court of Appeal, 2013
People v. Carbajal
298 P.3d 835 (California Supreme Court, 2013)
People v. Homick
289 P.3d 791 (California Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Houston
281 P.3d 799 (California Supreme Court, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
909 P.2d 1354, 12 Cal. 4th 652, 49 Cal. Rptr. 2d 732, 96 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 870, 96 Daily Journal DAR 1290, 1996 Cal. LEXIS 200, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bright-cal-1996.