P.

I. FACTS

Guilt Phase A. Introduction On September 29, 1995, defendant Glen Rogers, a drifter from Ohio who had frequented McRed‟s bar in Van Nuys for several weeks, picked up Sandra Gallagher at the bar and strangled her to death several hours later, burning her body in the passenger compartment of her pickup truck. Defendant fled from California to Mississippi,2 then to Bossier City, Louisiana, where, on November 2, 1995, he picked up Andy Lou Sutton at the It‟ll Do Lounge. Defendant spent the night with Sutton in her apartment and left the following day, telling her he had to go to Jackson, Mississippi, to retrieve a truck, but would return. Instead, defendant traveled to Tampa, Florida, where, on November 5, he picked up Tina Cribbs at the Showtown bar in Gibsonton, on the outskirts of Tampa. Defendant took Cribbs to his Tampa motel room where he stabbed her to death that same day. The following day defendant, driving Cribbs‟s car, returned to Sutton‟s apartment in Bossier City, Louisiana. The next night, on or about November 7, defendant stabbed Sutton to death in the bedroom of her apartment.

On October 9, 1995, defendant met Linda Price in Jackson, Mississippi, and…

A jury convicted defendant Glen Rogers of the first degree murder of Sandra Gallagher (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)), 1 and arson of property (§451, subd. (d)). One special circumstance was found tme: that defendant was previously convicted of first degree murder. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(2) [prior-murder-conviction special circumstance].) Following a penalty trial, the jury returned a verdict of death. The trial court denied the automatic motion to modify the penalty verdict (§ 190.4, subd. (e)) and imposed the death sentence for the murder and a determinate term of two years for the arson conviction. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment in its entirety.

I. Facts

Guilt Phase

A. Introduction

On September 29, 1995, defendant Glen Rogers, a drifter from Ohio who had frequented McRed’s bar in Van Nuys for several weeks, picked up Sandra Gallagher at the bar and strangled her to death several hours later, burning her body in the passenger compartment of her pickup truck. Defendant fled from California to Mississippi, 2 then to Bossier City, Louisiana, where, on November 2, 1995, he picked up Andy Lou Sutton at the It’ll Do Lounge. Defendant…

I agree entirely with the majority opinion, which I have signed. I write separately only to comment on defendant’s argument that the trial court erred in admitting, at the guilt phase, evidence of two *351 uncharged murders. (See maj. opn,, ante, at pp. 325-332.) In my view, admitting evidence of only two uncharged murders, and only for a limited purpose, was unnecessarily favorable to defendant.

The evidence presented at the guilt and penalty phases shows that defendant committed four murders in four different states over a six-week period; the charged murder in California and later uncharged murders in Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana. But the trial court admitted at the guilt phase evidence of only two of the uncharged murders—those committed in Florida and Louisiana. Evidence of the Mississippi murder was not presented until the penalty phase. Moreover, the court instructed the guilt phase jury it could consider the two uncharged murders solely on the question of intent. (Maj. opn., ante, at pp. 302, fn. 2, 327, fn. 3, 327 & fn. 4.)

The trial court had discretion, however, to admit evidence of all three uncharged murders on the question of defendant’s identity as the…