The People, Plaintiff and Respondent v. Billy Joe Johnson, Defendant and Appellant — Cuellar, J., Concurring

Summary

The concurrence would have held that testimony from the mother of a victim of an unrelated murder was irrelevant and inadmissible at the penalty phase because it did not illuminate either the defendant's character or the circumstances of the capital murder. It nevertheless concurred in the judgment because the brief testimony was harmless in light of the extensive aggravating evidence and the jury instructions. The concurrence also maintained that evidence concerning the effect of a prior violent crime on its victims may be relevant when it illuminates the nature or circumstances of the defendant's conduct, but evidence concerning the emotional impact on uninvolved family members is not.