Opinion ID: 1405837
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Double-counting of burglary-murder and robbery-murder special circumstances.

Text: The jury was instructed under section 190.3, factor (a), that the jury could consider in aggravation of penalty the existence of any special circumstances found true in connection with the capital crime. (Italic added.) Defendant urges this instruction improperly allowed the jurors to consider the burglary-murder and robbery-murder special circumstances as separate aggravating factors even though they were based on an indivisible course of conduct having one principal criminal purpose. (Citing People v. Harris (1984) 36 Cal.3d 36, 63-65 [201 Cal. Rptr. 782, 679 P.2d 433] [plur. opn.].) We have explained, however, that this scheme violates neither constitutional proscriptions nor California's statutory prohibition of double punishment (§ 654). ( Melton, supra, 44 Cal.3d at pp. 765-769.)