Green

Defendant was convicted of numerous crimes arising out of a gang-related drive-by shooting, including two counts of first degree murder. 1 The jury found the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders to be true, and defendant was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He now appeals.

Facts

Defendant was a member of a youth gang centered in the Sunnydale neighborhood in San Francisco. The gang was in rivalry with gangs in the Hunter’s Point neighborhood, chiefly for control of the crack cocaine trade.

In 1988-1989 minor turf battles between the gangs were common, usually consisting of verbal sparring or fist fights. On March 13, 1989, however, the violence escalated. Sunnydale gang members attacked a Hunter’s Point gang member and his mother. The attack on the mother inflamed the sensibilities of the Hunter’s Point gang members, and they soon retaliated. That same night Peter Lee, a popular Sunnydale gang member, was shot to death. Peter Lee had been defendant’s “partner” in the Sunnydale gang.

*1007 The person believed by Sunnydale gang members to be most responsible for the killing was Ronnie Lane, a Hunter’s Point…

— I respectfully dissent. I would reverse the judgment for misconduct by Juror Adams in his concealment of a felony conviction which rendered him ineligible to serve on the jury.

The defendant in a criminal trial has the constitutional right to have the charges against him or her tried by a fair and impartial jury. (In re Hitchings (1993) 6 Cal.4th 97, 110 [ 24 Cal.Rptr.2d 74 , 860 P.2d 466 ]; People v. Hord (1993) 15 Cal.App.4th 711, 724 [ 19 Cal.Rptr.2d 55 ]; People v. Blackwell (1987) 191 Cal.App.3d 925, 929 [ 236 Cal.Rptr. 803 ].) ‘““The right of unbiased and unprejudiced jurors is an inseparable and inalienable part of the right to trial by jury guaranteed by the Constitution.” ’ ” (People v. Diaz (1984) 152 Cal.App.3d 926, 933 [ 200 Cal.Rptr. 77 ]; see also People v. Ryner (1985) 164 Cal.App.3d 1075, 1081 [ 211 Cal.Rptr. 140 ].) Concealment or false answers by a juror during voir dire, whether inadvertent or intentional, interferes with the right of a criminal defendant to conduct voir dire for the purpose of discovering bias or impartiality, and constitutes serious misconduct. In re Hitchings, supra, 6 Cal.4th at p. 112 ; People v. Blackwell, supra, 191 Cal.App.3d at pp.…

[Opinion certified for partial publication. [*] ]

OPINION

DOSSEE, J.

Defendant was convicted of numerous crimes arising out of a gang-related drive-by shooting, including two counts of first degree murder. [1] The jury found the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders to be true, and defendant was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He now appeals.

Defendant was a member of a youth gang centered in the Sunnydale neighborhood in San Francisco. The gang was in rivalry with gangs in the Hunter's Point neighborhood, chiefly for control of the crack cocaine trade.

In 1988-1989 minor turf battles between the gangs were common, usually consisting of verbal sparring or fist fights. On March 13, 1989, however, the violence escalated. Sunnydale gang members attacked a Hunter's Point gang member and his mother. The attack on the mother inflamed the sensibilities of the Hunter's Point gang members, and they soon retaliated. That same night Peter Lee, a popular Sunnydale gang member, was shot to death. Peter Lee had been defendant's "partner" in the Sunnydale gang.

The person believed by Sunnydale gang members to be most responsible…