Steele

A jury convicted defendant of the first degree murder of Lee Ann Thurman (Pen. Code, § 187) 1 with the use of a knife (§ 12022) and found true the special circumstance of a prior murder conviction (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(2)). Later, defendant admitted three prior serious felony convictions. (§ 667, subd. (a).) After a penalty trial, the jury returned a verdict of death, and the court imposed that sentence. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment.

I. The Facts

A. Guilt Phase

1. Prosecution Evidence

During the evening of August 5, 1988, the body of Lee Ann Thurman, nude but partially covered by a blanket, was discovered on the floor of her apartment in Redding. She was 24 or 25 years old and developmentally disabled; she “had the skills of . . . maybe a 10 year old.” The body had bruises on the face and neck possibly caused by a fist and eight or nine stab wounds, all but one to the chest. The other stab wound, inflicted after death, was to the vagina. The autopsy revealed that the victim had also been *1239 manually strangled before she died. The cause of death was “multiple stab wounds to the chest with manual strangulation.”

The morning…

Unlike the majority, I conclude that the trial court erred in admitting evidence that defendant, 17 years before the trial here, had been convicted of the second degree murder of Deborah Cema, a killing factually similar to the charged murder of Lee Ann Thurman. That evidence should have been excluded under Evidence Code section 352 on the ground that its prejudicial impact outweighed its probative value. The *1282 failure to exclude that evidence was prejudicial to the defense and requires reversal of the judgment.

I

Evidence Code section 352 provides: “The court in its discretion may exclude evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission will . . . create substantial danger of undue prejudice . . . .” The ruling is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard. (People v. Barnett (1998) 17 Cal.4th 1044, 1118 [ 74 Cal.Rptr.2d 121 , 954 P.2d 384 ]; People v. Cudjo (1993) 6 Cal.4th 585, 609 [ 25 Cal.Rptr.2d 390 , 863 P.2d 635 ].)

This court has often recognized that evidence of prior crimes is inherently prejudicial. (People v. Carpenter (1997) 15 Cal.4th 312, 380 [ 63 Cal.Rptr.2d 1 , 935 P.2d 708 ]; People v. Ewoldt (1994) 7…

Certiorari Denied January 13, 2003. See 123 S.Ct. 874 .

A jury convicted defendant of the first degree murder of Lee Ann Thurman (Pen. Code, § 187) [1] with the use of a knife (§ 12022) and found true the special circumstance of a prior murder conviction (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(2)). Later, defendant admitted three prior serious felony convictions. (§ 667, subd. (a).) After a penalty trial, the jury returned a verdict of death, and the court imposed that sentence. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment.

During the evening of August 5, 1988, the body of Lee Ann Thurman, nude but partially covered by a blanket, was discovered on the floor of her apartment in Redding. She was 24 or 25 years old and developmentally disabled; she "had the skills of ... maybe a 10 year old." The body had bruises on the face and neck possibly caused by a fist and eight or nine stab wounds, all but one to the chest. The other stab wound, inflicted after death, was to the vagina. The autopsy revealed that the victim had also been manually strangled before she died. The cause of death was "multiple stab wounds to the chest with manual strangulation."

The morning after…