People v. Bills

Opinion

VOGEL (C. S.), J.

I

Introduction

A jury convicted appellants Wallace Arthur Bills and Maurice Frederick Alston of first degree murder, robbery, and burglary, with the special circumstances that the murder was committed in the course of robbery and burglary, and with enhancements that each personally inflicted great bodily injury and that Alston personally used a knife. The prosecution sought the death penalty, but the jury fixed the penalty at life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

II

Facts

The victim, Irene Davis, was the elderly cousin of Alston’s grandmother. From previous…