Supreme Court of California

In a prosecution for first degree murder in which the jury convicted after making true findings as to burglary-murder and robbery-murder special circumstances, the court of appeal's affirmation of the judgment is reversed and the case remanded, where: 1) error in giving jury instructions as to the elements of felony-murder special circumstances was amenable to harmless-error analysis; and 2) omission of the element concerning defendant’s state of mind was prejudicial and required reversal of the special circumstances and the sentence.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/23/2012
• Published 01/23/2012

Judges

• Baxter

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Mark L. Christiansen, Edmund G. Brown, Jr.