Barillas

A jury convicted appellant of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 189; count I; statutory references, unless otherwise noted, are to the Penal Code), attempted robbery (§§ 664/211; count II), residential burglary (§459; count IV), and two counts of robbery (§211; counts III and V). Personal gun use allegations—as to all counts except burglary—were found true (§ 12022.5) as was an attempted robbery special circumstance allegation (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)). No verdict was reached regarding an additional attempted robbery charge (§§664/211; count VI) and it was dismissed. Appellant was sentenced to state prison for life plus five years, without the possibility of parole.

We hold sufficient evidence corroborated the testimony of accomplice Michael Martinez, we find no instructional error, and we affirm the judgment.

Factual Background

Unlike the usual case, the trial evidence was almost without contradiction. Fifteen witnesses (one by stipulation) testified for the prosecution, none for the defense. The principal events occurred on two days, Thursday December 9, 1993, and Sunday December 12, 1993, all within a small area of Canoga Park near Roscoe and Topanga Canyon…

J.,Concurring.—Although I have joined the excellent opinion of the court I write separately to address a matter intimately involved in the instant case and rarely analyzed by appellate courts: the law of accomplices.

The Legislature should repeal Penal Code section 1111 because it is unnecessary, causes trial confiision, requires appellate review, and unjustly results in the exoneration of perpetrators who would be found guilty or have been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I explain.

“The rules of law and principles of evidence controlling the testimony of accomplices are drawn from the common law.” (People v. Coffey (1911) 161 Cal. 433, 437 [ 119 P. 901 ].)

The common law, however, was concerned not with whether an accomplice’s testimony must be corroborated but whether it should be admitted. ( 161 Cal. at p. 438 ; 7 Wigmore, Evidence (Chadboum ed. 1978) § 2056, pp. 404-405.)

*1024 That concern is diminished in our age when the oaths of trial witnesses are freely used but frequently little valued. The opposite was true at common law. Then an oath had great significance. As Dean Wigmore observed: “An oath, in the notions of the time, had a certain dead weight of its…

A jury convicted appellant of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 189; count I; statutory references, unless otherwise noted, are to the Penal Code), attempted robbery (§§ 664/211; count II), residential burglary (§ 459; count IV), and two counts of robbery (§ 211; counts III and V). Personal gun use allegations — as to all counts except burglary — were found true (§ 12022.5) as was an attempted robbery special circumstance allegation (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)). No verdict was reached regarding an additional attempted robbery charge (§§ 664/211; count VI) and it was dismissed. Appellant was sentenced to state prison for life plus five years, without the possibility of parole.

We hold sufficient evidence corroborated the testimony of accomplice Michael Martinez, we find no instructional error, and we affirm the judgment.

Unlike the usual case, the trial evidence was almost without contradiction. Fifteen witnesses (one by stipulation) testified for the prosecution, none for the defense. The principal events occurred on two days, Thursday December 9, 1993, and Sunday December 12, 1993, all within a small area of Canoga Park near Roscoe and Topanga Canyon…