Harrison

*217 Opinion

An Alameda County jury convicted defendant Cedric Harrison of two counts of first degree murder. (Pen. Code, § 187.) 1 The jury found true a multiple-murder special-circumstance allegation (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3)) and further found that defendant personally used a handgun to commit both murders (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)). Defendant admitted allegations that he had five prior convictions: for rape (§ 261), oral copulation (§ 288a), kidnapping (§ 207), assault with intent to commit a felony (§ 220), and robbery (§ 211). On the prosecution’s motion, the court struck two other prior-conviction allegations. The jury deadlocked at the penalty phase, and the court declared a mistrial. After retrial of the penalty phase, a different jury returned a verdict of death. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment in its entirety.

I. Facts

A. Guilt Phase

In the early morning hours of April 27, 1987, Betty Thompson and Leroy Robinson were shot to death in Oakland. The prosecution presented evidence that defendant killed them over a purchase of a small rock of what was supposed to be crack cocaine, but apparently was not.

1. Prosecution’s case

In the…

I concur with the result and the reasoning of the majority, except insofar as it concludes that the religious references made by the prosecutor at the guilt phase of the trial were not misconduct. I would conclude that the prosecutor’s invocation of religion during defendant’s guilt phase trial constituted misconduct, but was not prejudicial, given the strong evidence of defendant’s guilt.

As the majority rightfully acknowledges, we have repeatedly held that a prosecutor may not appeal to religious authority in a closing argument to the jury. (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 247.) I agree with the majority that “[wjhen references to the Bible are involved, the line between literary allusion and religious appeal is often a fine one.” (Id., at p. 248.) I believe that the prosecutorial argument at issue here, however, falls squarely on the wrong side of that line.

The majority opinion quotes at length the pertinent portion of the prosecutor’s argument invoking the Bible, and I therefore need not quote it in full here. (See maj. opn., ante, at pp. 246-247.) Of particular significance are the prosecutor’s extended metaphor invoking the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (see Revelation 6:1-6:8),…

Certiorari Denied October 3, 2005. See 126 S.Ct. 201 .

An Alameda County jury convicted defendant Cedric Harrison of two counts of first degree murder. (Pen.Code, § 187.) [1] The jury found true a multiple-murder special-circumstance allegation (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3)) and further found that defendant personally used a handgun to commit both murders (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)). Defendant admitted allegations that he had five prior convictions: for rape (§ 261), oral copulation (§ 288a), kidnapping (§ 207), assault with intent to commit a felony (§ 220), and robbery (§ 211). On the prosecution's motion, the court struck two other prior-conviction allegations. The jury deadlocked at the penalty phase, and the court declared a mistrial. After retrial of the penalty phase, a different jury returned a verdict of death. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment in its entirety.

In the early morning hours of April 27, 1987, Betty Thompson and Leroy Robinson were shot to death in Oakland. The prosecution presented evidence that defendant killed them over a purchase of a small rock of what was supposed to be crack cocaine, but apparently was not.

In…