Opinion ID: 1176537
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: special circumstances claims

Text: Defendant's only claim of error in the trial of the special circumstances allegations lies in the failure of the court to instruct the jury that a felony-murder special circumstance under section 190.2, subdivision (a)(17), requires not only a finding of intent to kill as this court concluded in Carlos v. Superior Court (1983) 35 Cal.3d 131 [197 Cal. Rptr. 79, 672 P.2d 862], but also a finding that this intent must be premeditated and a product of deliberation. This claim is based on reasoning that Carlos was correctly decided, and that from Carlos it follows that if the culpability necessary to justify imposition of the death penalty requires that the murder be intentional, it must also meet the other requisites of first degree murder, i.e., premeditation and deliberation. (See § 189.) Inasmuch as we have reconsidered Carlos and concluded that it was not correctly decided, the predicate assumption for this argument fails. (5) A felony-murder special circumstance is established even absent intent to kill, premeditation, or deliberation, if there is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant personally killed the victim in the commission or attempted commission of, and in furtherance of, one of the felonies enumerated in subdivision (a)(17) of section 190.2. ( People v. Miranda, supra, 44 Cal.3d 57, 89; People v. Anderson (1987) 43 Cal.3d 1104, 1138-1139 [240 Cal. Rptr. 585, 742 P.2d 1306].)
Other than the evidence offered at the guilt phase, the only penalty phase aggravating evidence presented by the People was the testimony of the sister of defendant's former wife regarding his commission of acts of sexual misconduct in 1971, at a time when she was 13 years old. That evidence is discussed in greater detail below. Defendant offered evidence, primarily through the testimony of law enforcement officers with whom or for whom he had worked, regarding his assistance to those officers as a volunteer informant. Defendant had supplied information regarding narcotics transactions, burglaries, and other crimes, and had assisted in controlled buys of narcotics, and illegal or stolen firearms. Defendant's brother also testified regarding an incident in which he had been arrested by officers who came to the house and found in his pocket some marijuana that defendant had given him earlier in the day. That conviction and probation had changed his life.