Monterroso

An Orange County jury convicted defendant Christian Antonio Monterroso of the first degree murders of Tarsem Singh and Ashokkumar Patel; the attempted willful, deliberate and premeditated murder of Allen Candías; two counts of burglary; three counts of robbery; and two counts of false imprisonment by violence; all by use of a firearm. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 211, 236, 459^160, subd. (b), 664, subd. (a), 12022.5, subd. (a).) The jury found true the burglary-murder and robbery-murder special circumstances as to each murder and a multiple-murder special circumstance. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3), former subd. (a)(17)(i) and (vii).) After a penalty trial, the jury returned a verdict of death. The court denied defendant’s motions for new trial (§ 1181) and to modify the penalty verdict (§ 190.4, subd. (e)) and sentenced defendant to die.

This appeal is automatic. We affirm the judgment.

I. Background

In the early morning hours of November 21, 1991, defendant Christian Antonio Monterroso robbed and murdered Tarsem Singh, a clerk at the Circle K Market on West Vermont Street in Anaheim, and Ashokkumar Patel, a clerk at Hanshaw’s Liquor Store on nearby Lincoln Avenue. Each…