People v. Chatman

Opinion

CORRIGAN, J.

A jury convicted Erik Sanford Chatman of first degree murder under the special circumstance of torture murder and with use of a knife. The jury acquitted him of robbery and rejected a related robbery-murder special-circumstance allegation. It did find defendant guilty of the lesser offense of grand theft. After the jury returned a death verdict, the court denied defendant’s motion to modify the verdict 3 and imposed sentence. In this automatic appeal, we affirm the judgment. 4

I. Facts

A. Guilt Phase

1. Overview

On October 7, 1987, defendant stabbed Rosellina Lo Bue to death at…