Bills

I

Introduction

A jury convicted appellants Wallace Arthur Bills and Maurice Frederick Alston of first degree murder, robbery, and burglary, with the special circumstances that the murder was committed in the course of robbery and burglary, and with enhancements that each personally inflicted great bodily injury and that Alston personally used a knife. The prosecution sought the death penalty, but the jury fixed the penalty at life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

II

Facts

The victim, Irene Davis, was the elderly cousin of Alston’s grandmother. From previous visits to her home, Alston knew the victim kept large amounts of cash in a valise in her bedroom. Alston’s friend Bills needed $700. Alston, Bills, and an uncharged third party, Mora, drove from El Paso, Texas, to the victim’s house in Los Angeles in order to steal money from her.

They arrived in the evening of September 28, 1986, and circled the block several times. Alston and Bills got out and were admitted to the residence by the victim, who normally stayed home alone behind double-locked security doors. Mora continued circling the block in the car. This circling, both before and after appellants…