People v. Staten

Opinion

MOSK, J.

This is an automatic appeal (Pen. Code, § 1239, subd. (b)) from a judgment of death under the 1978 death penalty law (id., § 190 et seq.).

On April 9, 1991, the District Attorney of Los Angeles County filed an information against Deondre Arthur Staten in the superior court of that county. The information charged that between October 12 and October 13, 1990, defendant murdered Arthur Staten, his father, and Faye Staten, his mother. (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a).) It was alleged for death eligibility that he did so under the special circumstances of (1) killing for financial gain…