Court Opinion

ID: 9620261
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:40:24.174181+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:10:51.550784
License: Public Domain

KENNARD, J., Dissenting.
I agree with Justice Mosk that the evidence in this case is insufficient to support defendant’s conviction of murder in the first degree. The facts of this case are not significantly different from those of People v. Anderson (1968) 70 Cal.2d 15 [73 Cal.Rptr. 550, 447 P.2d 942], in which this court reversed the defendant’s first degree murder conviction because there was insufficient evidence to establish that defendant committed the murder with premeditation and deliberation. As in Anderson, there is no evidence here either of planning or a preexisting motive to kill, and the manner of killing does not suggest the “ ‘careful thought and weighing of considerations for and against’ ” the killing that defines a premeditated and deliberate murder. (Maj. opn., ante, p. 1123.) I would therefore affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which reduced defendant’s conviction from first to second degree murder.
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied September 24, 1992. Mosk, J., and Kennard, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.