People v. Jackson

Michael Anthony Jackson appeals from a judgment of death imposed for the first degree murder of Kenneth Wrede on August 31, *1181 1983. (Pen. Code, § 187.) 1 The jury found true the special circumstance allegation that Wrede was a peace officer who was intentionally killed while engaged in the performance of his duties and that defendant knew or reasonably should have known that Wrede was a peace officer in the performance of his duties. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(7).) The jury also found that defendant personally used a firearm within the meaning of sections 12022.5 and 1203.06, subdivision (a)(1). We affirm the judgment in its entirety.

Guilt Phase Facts

There is little dispute as to what happened in the confrontation that resulted in defendant’s shooting of Officer Wrede. Prosecution and defense witnesses testified to a substantially similar sequence of events. Responding to two citizen calls that a man was acting strangely in a residential neighborhood, Wrede approached defendant who was barefoot and disheveled and stumbling aimlessly. The officer asked defendant to identify himself and state where he was going; defendant pointed in a northerly direction. Officer Wrede…

I concur in the judgment.

I write separately because I believe defendant’s claim of so-called “Brown” error is more substantial than may appear from a reading of the majority opinion. (People v. Brown (1985) 40 Cal.3d 512 [ 220 Cal.Rptr. 637 , 709 P.2d 440 ], revd. on other grounds sub nom. California v. Brown (1987) 479 U.S. 538 [ 93 L.Ed.2d 934 , 107 S.Ct. 837 ].)

The court instructed the jurors in accordance with the mandatory-penalty-determination language of Penal Code section 190.3 (hereafter section 190.3) as that language was incorporated in a modified version of a standard instruction: “If you conclude that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, you shall impose the sentence of death. ” (Italics added.) The final paragraph of section 190.3, on which the foregoing instruction was based, declares: “the trier of fact . . . shall impose a sentence of death if the trier of fact concludes that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances.” (Italics added.)

In Brown we construed the final paragraph of section 190.3 as follows in order to avoid the serious Eighth Amendment questions that would arise if the jury were deprived…

Michael Anthony Jackson appeals from a judgment of death imposed for the first degree murder of Kenneth Wrede on August 31, 1983. (Pen. Code, § 187.) [1] The jury found true the special circumstance allegation that Wrede was a peace officer who was intentionally killed while engaged in the performance of his duties and that defendant knew or reasonably should have known that Wrede was a peace officer in the performance of his duties. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(7).) The jury also found that defendant personally used a firearm within the meaning of sections 12022.5 and 1203.06, subdivision (a)(1). We affirm the judgment in its entirety.

There is little dispute as to what happened in the confrontation that resulted in defendant's shooting of Officer Wrede. Prosecution and defense witnesses testified to a substantially similar sequence of events. Responding to two citizen calls that a man was acting strangely in a residential neighborhood, Wrede approached defendant who was barefoot and disheveled and stumbling aimlessly. The officer asked defendant to identify himself and state where he was going; defendant pointed in a northerly direction. Officer Wrede asked…