Opinion ID: 1144129
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Under the authority of People v. Anderson (1972) 6 Cal.3d 628 and Furman v. Georgia (1972) 408 U.S. 238, the death penalty imposed upon defendant under Penal Code section 190 is unconstitutional.

Text: Defendant's final contention, challenging the death penalty imposed upon him pursuant to Penal Code section 190 as cruel and unusual punishment violative of the state and federal Constitutions, has, of course, already been accepted by both this court ( People v. Anderson (1972) 6 Cal.3d 628 [100 Cal. Rptr. 152, 493 P.2d 880]) and by the United States Supreme Court ( Furman v. Georgia (1972) 408 U.S. 238 [33 L.Ed.2d 346, 92 S.Ct. 2726]). (12) As we explained recently in People v. Murphy (1972) ante, pages 349, 352, footnote 2 [105 Cal. Rptr. 138, 503 P.2d 594], Although the electors at the November 7, 1972, General Election adopted Proposition 17 which added section 27 to article I of the [California] Constitution purporting to nullify Anderson's holding of the invalidity of the death penalty, the constitutional prohibitions against ex post facto laws (U.S. Const., art. I, § 10; Kring v. Missouri (1882) 107 U.S. 221 [27 L.Ed. 506, 2 S.Ct. 443]; Cal. Const., art. I, § 16) preclude the application of the amendment to cases arising before its effective date (see Const., art. IV, § 1). Moreover, imposition of the death penalty in the circumstances of the instant case would infringe federal constitutional prohibitions. ( Furman v. Georgia (1972) 408 U.S. 238 [33 L.Ed.2d 346, 92 S.Ct. 2726].) Accordingly, the judgment appealed from must be modified to provide for a sentence of life imprisonment rather than death. [20] The judgment is modified to provide a punishment of life imprisonment and as so modified is affirmed.