Supreme Court of California

Conviction of first degree murder, kidnapping and related charges, and sentence of death are affirmed, where: 1) the trial court did not err in finding that it was not reasonably likely defendant could not receive a fair trial in Kern County and the guilt and penalty verdicts were due to the evidence presented at trial and not to a biased jury or the failure to change venue; 2) the trial court did not err in not excusing for cause 14 prospective jurors, or for excusing another juror; 3) the trial court did not err in admitting his confessions or in redacting them to delete mention of codefendant; 4) the trial court did not err in admitting pictures of the victim; 5) there was sufficient evidence to support the kidnapping conviction; 6) the jury instructions were not erroneous; 7) the felony-based special circumstances are not constitutionally infirm; and 8) there were no errors in the penalty phase.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/23/2013
• Published 05/23/2013

Judges

• CHIN

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel