Rutterschmidt

The jury found defendants Olga Rutterschmidt and Helen Golay guilty of the first degree murders of Paul Vados and Kenneth McDavid, finding that both murders were committed for financial gain (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 190.2, subd. (a)(1)). [1] Defendants were also convicted of conspiring to commit the Vados and McDavid murders (§ 182, subd. (a)(1)). The jury made separate special circumstance findings of multiple murders (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3)) as to both defendants. Defendants received consecutive sentences of life without the possibility of parole for the murders. Sentences of 25 years to life for the conspiracy convictions were stayed pursuant to section 654.

In their timely appeals, defendants contend (1) the trial court violated their Sixth Amendment right to confront adverse witnesses by admitting testimony by Joseph Muto as to the results of laboratory drug analyses performed by analysts under his supervision; (2) admission of post-arrest, custodial statements by defendants while detained together was in violation of the Fourth Amendment because defendants were not timely presented to a federal magistrate pursuant to their federal arrest warrants; (3) the…