Supreme Court of California

Conviction for first degree murder and sentence of death is affirmed where: 1) the court's prior-murder special-circumstance finding was proper, as defendant does not have a right to a jury trial on the constitutional validity of his prior conviction and bears the burden of proving the invalidity by a preponderance of the evidence standard; 2) the record does not support defendant's claim of prosecutorial misconduct and trial court misconduct; 3) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding impeachment evidence and limiting cross examination of a prosecution witness; and 4) the death penalty statute is not unconstitutional.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/18/2009
• Published 05/18/2009

Judges

• MORENO, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Musawwir Spiegel, Davis, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant., Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Mary Jo Graves, Assistant Attorney General, Eric L. Christoffersen, Jennifer M. Poe and Jennevee H. De Guzman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.