Gunder

A jury convicted defendant Darrin Eric Gunder of two counts of first degree murder (sustaining related firearm enhancements) and of being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm, and sustained a multiple-murder special-circumstance allegation. The trial court sustained a recidivist allegation, and sentenced defendant to state prison for consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole (consecutive to a largely superfluous determinate term).

On appeal, defendant challenges the admission of evidence of uncharged criminal conduct, the admission of an extrajudicial statement of a recalcitrant witness, the sufficiency of the evidence to show premeditation, and the adequacy of a pattern instruction on the subject of giving defendant the benefit of the doubt on the degree of murder. We shall affirm.

As the evidence in support of the verdicts is relevant only to the contention regarding premeditation, we will not provide a separate recitation of the facts. Instead, we will incorporate the pertinent facts in the Discussion.

Discussion

I

A

In the course of examining the elder of defendant’s twin teenaged sons, the prosecutor asked about a conversation…