Yeoman

*104 Opinion

A jury found defendant Ralph Michael Yeoman guilty of the first degree murder of Doris Horrell and found true the special circumstance that the murder occurred during the commission of a robbery. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(A).)

The jury also found defendant guilty of robbery and false imprisonment (§§211, 236) and found true the allegation that, in each of these crimes, defendant personally used a firearm (§ 12022.5). The jury found not true the additional special circumstance that the murder occurred during the commission of a kidnapping. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(B).) The jury imposed the sentence of death. The trial court stayed the convictions for robbery and false imprisonment under section 654, struck the enhancements under section 1385 and entered judgment accordingly. This is the automatic appeal from that judgment. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm.

I. FACTS

A. Guilt Phase

1. The Murder of Doris Horrell

Defendant robbed and murdered Doris Horrell, a 73-year-old resident of Citrus Heights, on February 13, 1988. Sheriff’s deputies found her body about 9:40 p.m. in an open field west of Interstate 5 in Sacramento County, while setting flares to…

I concur in the majority opinion. I offer these additional thoughts on defendant’s contention that the prosecutor peremptorily challenged four Black jurors because of their race, in violation of Batson v. Kentucky (1986) 476 U.S. 79 [ 90 L.Ed.2d 69 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 ] (Batson) and People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258 [ 148 Cal.Rptr. 890 , 583 P.2d 748 ] (Wheeler). In rejecting that contention, the majority makes several references to this court’s very recent decision in People v. Johnson (2003) 30 Cal.4th 1302 [ 1 Cal.Rptr.3d 1 , 71 P.3d 270 ] (Johnson), in which I dissented. As I shall explain, Johnson is superficially similar but fundamentally different from this case.

A trial court may deny a Wheeler motion outright if the moving party has failed to make a prima facie showing that impermissible group bias motivated the opposing party’s challenges. In Johnson , a majority of this court held that to establish a prima facie case, “the objector must show that it is more likely than not the other party’s peremptory challenges, if unexplained, were based on impermissible group bias.” (Johnson, supra, 30 Cal.4th at p. 1306 , italics added.) I disagreed. As I explained, to establish…

Certiorari Denied April 19, 2004. See 124 S.Ct. 2018 .

A jury found defendant Ralph Michael Yeoman guilty of the first degree murder of Doris Horrell and found true the special circumstance that the murder occurred during the commission of a robbery. (Pen. Code, งง 187, 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(A).) [1] The jury also found defendant guilty of robbery and false imprisonment (งง 211, 236) and found true the allegation that, in each of these crimes, defendant personally used a firearm (ง 12022.5). The jury found not true the additional special circumstance that the murder occurred during the commission of a kidnapping. (ง 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(B).) The jury imposed the sentence of death. The trial court stayed the convictions for robbery and false imprisonment under section 654, struck the enhancements under section 1385 and entered judgment accordingly. This is the automatic appeal from that judgment. (ง 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm.

Defendant robbed and murdered Doris Horrell, a 73-year-old resident of Citrus Heights, on February 13, 1988. Sheriffs deputies found her body about 9:40 p.m. in an open field west of Interstate 5 in Sacramento County, while setting flares to…