The People, Plaintiff and Respondent v. Nathan Verdugo, Defendant and Appellant — Moreno, J., Concurring

Summary

The concurrence would have excluded the audio cassette of Mexican songs because its musical content had little or no informational value and posed a substantial risk of manipulating the jury's emotions during the penalty phase. The concurrence nevertheless agreed that admission of the cassette was harmless because only a few songs were apparently played, the presentation occupied a small part of the penalty-phase case, and its connection to permissible victim-impact evidence was tenuous. The concurrence also cautioned that artistic works created by victims should not be admitted without carefully weighing probative value against prejudicial emotional impact.