Scott

*371 Opinion

Following a jury trial on a 15-count indictment, defendant Royce Lyn Scott was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering 78-year-old Della Morris in her home. Specifically, Scott was convicted of the first degree murder of Morris (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a); count 4), burglary (id., § 459; count 1), and the rape and sodomy of Morris (id., §§ 261, subd. (a)(2), 286, subd. (c); counts 2 and 3). (All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.) The jury found true the burglary, rape, and sodomy special-circumstance allegations. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(G), (C), (D).) The trial court found that Scott had one prior serious felony conviction (§ 667) and had served one prior prison term (§ 667.5, subd. (b)).

Before trial, the trial court granted Scott’s motion under section 995 to set aside the burglary charge in count 5. In addition, Scott had pleaded guilty to four counts of burglary (§ 459; counts 6 through 9), two counts of second degree robbery (§211; counts 10 and 11), two counts of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury (§ 245, subd. (a)(1); counts 12 and 13), and two counts of battery (§ 242; counts 14 and 15). The charges in…

Concurring. — During jury selection, defendant Royce Lyn Scott objected to the prosecutor’s peremptory strike of Prospective Juror H.R., an African-American. (See Batson v. Kentucky (1986) 476 U.S. 79 [ 90 L.Ed.2d 69 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 ] (Batson); People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258 [ 148 Cal.Rptr. 890 , 583 P.2d 748 ].) The trial court found no prima facie case of discrimination but invited the prosecutor to state his reason for striking H.R. The prosecutor cited H.R.’s “inconsistent answers on the death penalty,” and the trial court accepted that explanation as a valid race-neutral reason.

I agree that Scott’s Batson claim lacks merit. But I would reject the claim on the ground that substantial evidence supports the trial court’s ruling that the prosecutor offered a credible race-neutral explanation for striking H.R. Because the prosecutor stated a reason for the strike and the trial court-ruled on that reason, the first stage of the Batson inquiry — i.e., whether Scott made a prima facie showing of discrimination — is moot. (See People v. Banks (2014) 59 Cal.4th 1113, 1146 [ 176 Cal.Rptr.3d 185 , 331 P.3d 1206 ]; People v. McKinzie (2012) 54 Cal.4th 1302, 1320 [ 144…

I. FACTS

A. Guilt Phase

1. Prosecution Evidence

a. The Murder of Della Morris Della Morris (Morris) lived in Palm Springs with her brother, Webbie Morris (Webbie). On Thursday, July 9, 1992, Webbie went to bed around 10:00 p.m., while Morris watched television in the living room. When Webbie woke up the next morning around 8:00 a.m., he found her dead in her bedroom. He saw

2 blood on the bed and underneath her body, and he noticed that the sliding door to his room and the one in the living room were open. A VCR and Webbie’s wallet were missing.

b. Investigation Around 8:15 a.m., police arrived at the Morris residence. They found no indication of forced entry or a struggle in Morris’s bedroom. Warren Horton, a deputy coroner with the Riverside County coroner’s office, examined Morris’s body at the scene. He observed two small bruises under her right eye. Horton rolled her body over and saw a small amount of blood underneath her vaginal area. The blood appeared dried and had stained Morris’s buttocks and the bedsheet. Horton found a small hair directly underneath her pubic area that did not appear to be consistent with her pubic hair. Darryl Garber, a forensic pathologist and…