People v. Shackelford CA6

I. INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted defendant David J. Shackelford of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)1) and found true the allegation that he personally used a deadly weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)). The trial court sentenced defendant to a term of 25 years to life for the murder, with a consecutive one year term for the deadly weapon allegation. On appeal, defendant contends: (1) his conviction must be reduced to second degree murder because there was no substantial evidence of premeditation and deliberation; (2) the prosecutor committed misconduct by misstating the reasonable doubt standard; (3) trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request CALCRIM No. 522, which would have told the jury that provocation may reduce a murder from first degree to second degree; (4) the trial court erred by telling the jury, pursuant to CALCRIM

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated. No. 521, that defendant deliberated the murder if he decided to kill before completing the acts that caused the victim’s death; (5) trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object when the prosecutor argued that defendant premeditated the…