Cook

A jury convicted Walter Joseph Cook III of three counts of first degree murder for killing Ernest Sadler, Michael Bettencourt, and Ronald Morris (Pen. Code, § 187), and it found true a multiple-murder special circumstance (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3)). It further found that the murder of Sadler was committed with a deadly weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)), that defendant personally inflicted great bodily injury, on Sadler (§ 1203.075), and that defendant personally used a firearm in murdering both Bettencourt and Morris (§§ 1203.06, subd. (a)(1), 12022.5, subd. (a).) At the penalty phase of trial, the jury returned a verdict of death. Defendant’s appeal to this court is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)

We affirm the judgment.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

A. Prosecution’s Guilt Phase Case-in-chief

The murders of Ernest Sadler, Michael Bettencourt and Ronald Morris occurred on separate occasions and were unrelated to one another, except for each victim’s link to defendant, a seller of crack cocaine.

1. Sadler murder

Around 4:00 o’clock on the morning of February 9, 1992, police officers found the body of Ernest Sadler lying on the pavement in the 2200 block of Menalto…