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Cal. Supreme Court Upholds Death Sentence Over Kennard's Dissent

By Jeremy Price

The California Supreme Court affirmed the conviction and death sentence of a man found to have murdered and dismembered a woman in order to prevent her from testifying against him in another case. While Justice Kennard concurred in the portion of the majority opinion upholding the defendant's convictions, she would have reversed the imposition of the death penalty.  In Justice Kennard's view, the fairness of the penalty phase was undermined by two prejudicial errors.  First, the trial court should have granted defense counsel?s request to ask prospective jurors if they would invariably impose the death penalty in a case involving dismemberment of the murder victim?s body.  At capital sentencing hearings, both sides are entitled to ask questions of potential jurors specific enough to determine if those jurors harbor bias, as to some fact or circumstance shown by the trial evidence, that would cause them not to follow an instruction directing them to determine a penalty after considering aggravating and mitigating evidence...continue to full post

Full post as published by Criminal Appeal on July 31, 2007 (boomark / email).