Supreme Court of California

A conviction and death sentence for first degree murder, kidnapping, and unlawful penetration with a foreign object is reversed in part only as to a simple kidnapping conviction and a kidnapping-murder special circumstance. The judgment is otherwise affirmed on automatic appeal over claims of error regarding: 1) the alleged vagueness of the asportation element of simple kidnapping; 2) the sufficiency of the evidence; 3) murder instructions; 4) merger of unlawful penetration with a foreign object with the resulting homicide; 5) reasonable doubt and related jury instructions; 6) consciousness of guilt jury instructions; 7) the validity of the statute enacting the unlawful penetration special circumstance; 8) the propriety of alleging multiple felony-murder special circumstances; 9) evidence of unadjudicated criminal activity; 10) instruction on appropriate use of victim impact evidence; 11) the constitutionality of certain instructions; 12) the constitutionality of the death penalty statute; 13) international law; and 14) cumulative error.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/15/2007
• Published 11/15/2007

Judges

• CHIN, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Michael J. Hersek, State Public Defender, under appointment by the Supreme Court, Therene Powell and C. Delaine Renard, Deputy State Public Defenders, for Defendant and Appellant., Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, Jeffrey J. Koch and Randall D. Einhorn, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.