People v. Beckett CA2/5

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Underlying Convictions

The following facts are uncontradicted: In 1981, Beckett’s father had recently broken up with his girlfriend and told his son that to get over the relationship he needed to rape and kill a girl. He wanted Beckett to procure the girl for him. They worked together to make a sap that they planned to use as the murder weapon. Beckett met Tracey Stewart for a date and brought her back to his father’s house. Beckett took Stewart into his father’s bedroom, where she was ordered to undress. Beckett then left Stewart alone in the bedroom with his father, who raped her.

1 Effective June 30, 2022, Penal Code section 1170.95 was renumbered section 1172.6, with no change in text (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10).

2 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.

2 Afterwards, Beckett and his father took Stewart to a van. Beckett hit Stewart in the head with the sap twice, and then attempted to strangle and gag her. He was not able to kill her, so his father told him to get out of the way and then killed Stewart himself. The two men taped a plastic bag around Stewart’s head and drove her to an unpopulated…