Streeter

A jury convicted defendant Howard Larcell Streeter of the first degree murder of Yolanda Buttler. (Pen. Code, § 187.) It found true special circumstance allegations of lying in wait (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(15)) and the intentional infliction of torture (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(18)). The trial court declared a mistrial as to the penalty phase after the jury could not reach a verdict. At the beginning of the penalty phase retrial,- the trial court released the jury after granting defendant’s motion for a continuance. At the second penalty retrial, the jury returned a verdict of death, and the trial court imposed that sentence. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment.

I. FACTS

A. Guilt Phase

1. The Prosecution’s Case

Defendant and Yolanda Buttler lived together for about five years in Fontana. They lived with their child, “Little Howie,” Yolanda’s two older children, Patrick and Lawanda, and Yolanda’s niece, Shavonda.

In December 1996, Yolanda told her siblings, Lucinda and Quentin Buttler, that defendant was beating her and had pulled her hair, and that she was afraid of him and wanted to leave him. They agreed to help Yolanda secretly move out of…