Opinion ID: 2581604
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Lewd and Lascivious Conduct Special Circumstance as Factor in Aggravation

Text: Reformulating one of his guilt phase arguments, defendant contends the jury improperly was permitted to consider duplicative special-circumstance findings since the murder in the course of a lewd act on a child finding was based upon the same set of facts as the felony-murder-rape and felony-murder-sodomy findings, thus resulting in an artificial inflation of the facts in aggravation. We have previously rejected defendant's premise, and conclude it is equally without merit in the context of the penalty phase. ( Stansbury, supra, 4 Cal.4th at p. 1069, 17 Cal.Rptr.2d 174, 846 P.2d 756 [rape and lewd act special-circumstance findings required different elements of proof and could be separately considered as aggravating factors].) Again, the rape, sodomy, and lewd conduct were all separate violations, each relevant to the determination of defendant's culpability (see ante ), and we reject defendant's contention that the inclusion of the lewd act special circumstance constituted double counting of the factors in aggravation.