P.

INTRODUCTION

On January 2, 1990, Willie Thomas and Jack Barron were fatally shot at close range in a house on Spring Street in Los Angeles. Their bodies were dragged to a truck parked in the garage, where they were found when the police arrived in response to a neighbor‘s call reporting gunshots. The prosecution‘s theory was that defendant shot both victims in the course of a robbery that had begun as a drug transaction. According to prosecution witnesses, earlier that evening defendant had planned to scam the victims through a fraudulent drug transaction at a bar parking lot by trading fake money for drugs. The victims met defendant at the bar parking lot, but, for reasons unknown, the transaction did not occur there. Instead, later that evening, the victims came to the Spring Street house, which was a frequent hangout for defendant and three associates. According to the testimony of the three associates, all of whom had pleaded guilty in prior proceedings, defendant shot both victims. Additionally, two neighbors to the Spring Street house testified that defendant was present at the house on the night of the killings. The prosecution presented evidence that the pager found at…

The court today affirms a judgment of death that followed a trial in which the prosecutor used peremptory strikes to remove the first five black women in the jury box. Defendant, who is black, was charged with robbery and murder, and the principal defense witness was a black woman, defendant’s wife. When the trial judge asked the prosecutor to state his reasons for striking the five black female jurors, the prosecutor said he believed each of them would be hesitant to impose the death penalty. The prosecutor gave vague explanations for his belief, stating that it was “just my general impression from their answers ... in spite of what they said,” “[i]t was my general impression from the way she answered the questions, not what she said,” and “sometimes you get a feel for a person that you just know that they can’t impose it based upon the nature of the way that they say something.” The trial judge accepted the prosecutor’s explanations despite the fact that she had “stopped taking notes” by the time at least two of these prospective jurors were questioned and thus could “only go by what [the prosecutor] is saying.” In the course of ruling on one of defendant’s Batson claims (Batson…

A Los Angeles County jury found defendant George Brett Williams guilty of two first degree murders and found true the special circumstance allegations of multiple murder and that the murders were committed while defendant was engaged in the commission or attempted commission of a robbery. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, 189, 190.2, subd. (a)(3), (17).) 1 The jury further found defendant guilty of two counts of second degree robbery and found true that defendant personally used a firearm in the commission of the felony offenses. (§§ 211, 12022.5.) After the penalty phase, the jury returned a verdict of death. The trial court denied defendant’s motion for new trial (§ 1181) and for modification of the penalty (§ 190.4, subd. (e)) and sentenced him to death. This appeal is automatic. (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 11; § 1239, subd. (b).)

We affirm the judgment.

*637 Introduction

On January 2, 1990, Willie Thomas and Jack Barron were fatally shot at close range in a house on Spring Street in Los Angeles. Their bodies were dragged to a truck parked in the garage, where they were found when the police arrived in response to a neighbor’s call reporting gunshots. The prosecution’s theory was…

I respectfully dissent. I agree with the dissenting opinion by Justice Liu that under the circumstances of this case no appellate deference is due the trial court’s determination the prosecutor’s peremptory challenges were exercised on nondiscriminatory grounds (dis. opn. of Liu, J., post, at pp. 699-700); I agree as well that an independent review of the record discloses a likelihood that as to at least two African-American women called as prospective jurors, the prosecutor engaged in *699 purposeful discrimination in exercising his challenges, in violation of Batson v. Kentucky (1986) 476 U.S. 79 [ 90 L.Ed.2d 69 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 ] and People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258 [ 148 Cal.Rptr. 890 , 583 P.2d 748 ] (dis. opn. of Liu, J., post, at pp. 717-725). Unlike my colleague in dissent, however, I find it unnecessary to suggest that in general no deference is owed a trial court’s credibility determination unless the court has made explicit findings upholding the prosecutor’s stated reasons for exercising a challenge in light of all the circumstances bearing on the question of discrimination. (See id. at pp. 710-713, 716.) The egregious circumstances of the present case—the trial…