Parker

Opinion of the Court by Groban, J.

This automatic appeal follows from defendant Calvin Lamont Parker’s 2002 conviction and death sentence for the murder of Patricia Gallego. Defendant was found guilty of first degree murder in violation of Penal Code1 section 187, subdivision (a), and the jury also found true the lying-in-wait special circumstance (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(15)), as well as the special circumstance allegations that defendant intentionally killed Gallego for financial gain (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(1)), while engaged in the commission or attempted commission of rape (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)). After a penalty trial, the jury returned a verdict of death. We affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A. Guilt Phase 1. Prosecution’s Evidence Defendant and Gallego were roommates who met while she was dating his former roommate, Charles Ijames, in 1997. Gallego was a Brazilian citizen and had moved to the United States in 1996. In 1998, after Gallego had dated Ijames for some time, defendant told Ijames that Gallego had offered to pay him $5,000 if he would marry her. Ijames understood the offer to be

1 All further unspecified statutory references are to the Penal Code. PEOPLE v.…