Conviction and penalty affirmed in a capital case. Guilt phase issues addressed included the rulings on juror challenges for cause; the adequacy of the trial courts general voir dire; the limitation on peremptory challenges; admissibility of evidence of: prior robberies, knife scraping tests, and expert testimony concerning the knife-scraping tests; the sufficiency of evidence that the killing occurred during a robbery; denial of a mistrial motion; the jury instructions: defining robbery, on the robbery special circumstance, on consent to taking, and on intent to kill as an element of the robbery special circumstance; the suspension of jury deliberations during the holidays; and prosecutorial misconduct.
Case Summaries