People v. Rittger

Defendant Ronald Rittger appeals (by virtue of Pen. Code, § 1239, subd. (b)) from a judgment of death rendered on conviction of the first degree murder of Bobby Lee Wheeler, and from an order denying defendant’s motion for new trial, or reduction of the class or degree of the offense or the penalty. Defendant was also charged with violation of section 4500 of the Penal Code (assault on Wheeler with malice aforethought, and with force likely to produce great bodily injury, by a prisoner undergoing a life sentence). The murder was charged as “a different offense from but connected in its…