Supreme Court of California

Conviction of defendant for first degree murders, arson, and attempted murder and sentences of death for each murder, is affirmed over defendant's challenges to: 1) trial court's failure to initially swear in grand jurors; 2) asserted Witt/Witherspoon error; 3) asserted Batson/Wheeler error; 4) trial court's failure to determine racial bias of jurors; 5) admission of crime scene photographs; 6) sufficiency of the evidence; 7) lack of jury instruction on necessity of a live victim; 8) lack of jury instruction on lesser included offense of manslaughter; 9) asserted prosecutorial misconduct; 10) cumulative error; 11) admission of evidence of uncharged violent criminal conduct; 12) admission of victim impact evidence; 13) trial court's refusal to instruct the jury on age as a mitigating factor; and 14) the constitutionality of California's death penalty scheme.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/20/2011
• Published 01/20/2011

Judges

• MORENO

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Jonathan P. Milberg, Edmund G. Brown, Jr.