Opinion ID: 1172016
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Witness-murder

Text: (16) Defendant asserts that there is insufficient evidence to support the finding that Kevin was murdered to prevent him from testifying against defendant at some future date. He insists that any such conclusion is purely speculative, relying upon People v. Bigelow, supra, 37 Cal.3d 731, to support his claim. The Attorney General insists that the record in this case supports a finding of witness-murder. Thomas testified that he had earlier heard defendant discuss the prospect of kidnapping a woman and bringing her to Shelton's cabin, and that on at least one such occasion, defendant acknowledged that the victim would have to be killed because she would know too much. The Attorney General argues that since defendant formed kidnapping and murder plans that were subsequently precisely followed there is sufficient evidence to support a finding of witness-murder. We disagree. The kidnapping, robbery and murder were part of one continuous transaction. A witness-murder special-circumstance finding must fall if the killing was committed during the commission, or attempted commission of the crime to which [the person killed] was a witness. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(10).) Clearly, if defendant had only robbed Kevin and then killed him, a witness-murder special-circumstance finding could not stand because the murder was committed during the commission of the robbery. Similarly, if defendant had only kidnapped and killed Kevin and Laura, a witness-murder special-circumstance finding could not stand because the murder was committed during the commission of the kidnapping. Here, the Attorney General argues that Kevin witnessed the robbery of Laura. But again, the robbery of Laura was part of the same continuous criminal transaction which included the kidnapping of Laura and Kevin and the robbery of Kevin. Lacking evidence that the murder was not simply part of the same continuous criminal transaction, we must set aside the witness-murder special-circumstance finding. Accordingly, we need not reach defendant's alternative argument that a witness-murder finding is inconsistent with a financial-gain or kidnapping-for-robbery finding.