Bassett

Defendant was charged by information with two counts of murder, and pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to both. The jury returned verdicts of first degree murder on each count, found defendant sane at the time of the commission of the crimes, and fixed the penalty at death. The court denied motions for new trial and for reduction of the penalty. The appeal is automatic. (Pen. Code, §1239, subd. (b).)

We have before us the tragedy of a youth suffering since childhood from deep-seated paranoid schizophrenia, who at the age of 18 methodically executed his mother and father. The evidence is overwhelming that while he planned the parricide with precision and knew that it was wrong, his diminished mental capacity was such that he could not maturely *125 and meaningfully reflect upon the gravity of his contemplated acts. The deputy district attorney acknowledged in argument to the jury that “everyone, including myself, everyone agrees that this boy was and had been a paranoid type of schizophrenic”; indeed, defendant’s abnormal mental condition was well known long in advance of trial. 1

In these circumstances we must once again shoulder the burden of dissecting a…