Opinion ID: 2584893
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Failure to Instruct Jury to Unanimously Agree on a Theory of First Degree Murder

Text: Defendant contends the trial court erred by not instructing the jury that it must unanimously agree on the theory of first degree murdereither felony murder or premeditated and deliberate murderin order to reach a verdict on that charge. As defendant recognizes, however, we have rejected this claim on numerous prior occasions, and do so in the present case as well. (See People v. Benavides (2005) 35 Cal.4th 69, 100-101 [24 Cal.Rptr.3d 507, 105 P.3d 1099]; People v. Nakahara (2003) 30 Cal.4th 705, 712-713 [134 Cal.Rptr.2d 223, 68 P.3d 1190].) Moreover, the jury's findings of robbery and the truth of the robbery-murder special circumstance signify unanimous agreement with a first degree felony-murder theory. ( People v. McPeters (1992) 2 Cal.4th 1148, 1185 [9 Cal.Rptr.2d 834, 832 P.2d 146].)