Atkins

Defendant was convicted by jury verdict of the crimes of first degree murder and second degree burglary. 1 Following denial of postconviction motions, he was sentenced to state prison for the term prescribed by law for first degree murder (25 years to life) with the sentence on the burglary conviction stayed pending completion of sentence on the murder conviction. On appeal defendant claims prejudicial error as a result of the admission of incriminating evidence seized pursuant to an invalid search warrant and instructional error. By supplemental brief, defendant further argues that the felony-murder rule, within the context of Penal Code section 189, should be repudiáted on both policy and constitutional grounds. We consider defendant’s respective claims in a sequence convenient to our discussion.

Facts

Shortly after 6 p.m. on April 21, 1979, the victim, Sara Thomas, a 76-year-old diminutive English woman, was discovered lying unconscious on the floor of her room in the Somerton Hotel, a residential hotel accommodating long-term and transient guests. The severely beaten victim was found with a telephone cord wrapped around her arm and a crescent shaped wound was…