King

On May 28, 1997, a jury returned a verdict finding appellant James Edward King guilty of murder with special circumstances, first degree burglary, sodomy and attempted rape. The jury did not, however, find that appellant’s crimes warranted the death penalty. The trial court accordingly sentenced appellant to life in prison without the possibility of parole consecutive to a determinate term of 30 years.

In appealing his conviction and sentence, appellant does not deny that he in fact committed the crimes. He contends, rather, that the jury’s findings were based on inadmissible evidence; specifically evidence of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) profiling matching appellant’s DNA profile with that of DNA recovered from the crime site, and evidence of statements taken from appellant after his arrest for the crimes.

Background

Appellant had been convicted of forcible rape in 1984, for which he served a term in state prison. In January 1991, before appellant’s release, and as required by former Penal Code section 290.2, appellant provided blood samples for analysis by a DNA laboratory operated by California’s Department of Justice (the DNA Lab). The samples provided by appellant…