Meneley

Defendant, Darrell Meneley, appeals from a judgment of conviction entered on jury verdicts finding him guilty of the mur der (Pen. Code, § 187) of Nancy Breiling, and the kidnaping (Pen. Code, § 207) and assault with a deadly weapon (Pen. Code, § 245) of Linda Houser. He contends that: 1) the consolidation of the Breiling and Houser cases for trial was improper; 2) he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel by the failure to present the defense of diminished capacity, the failure to object to evidence unlawfully seized at the time of his arrest and the failure to object to Mr. Houser’s identification evidence based on an unduly suggestive lineup; 3) his statement was erroneously admitted in violation of his Miranda rights; and 4) the prosecution was guilty of prejudicial misconduct. We have concluded that there is no merit to any of these contentions; however, the judgment must be modified to a life sentence.

As there are no contentions concerning the sufficiency of the evidence, a brief summary of the pertinent facts will suffice. Viewing the record most strongly in favor of the judgment, as we must, the following facts appear:

i

I. The Murder

On Tuesday,…