People v. Whitler

Opinion

EVANS, Acting P. J.

Defendant was found guilty of first degree murder. (Pen. Code, § 187.)1 On appeal she contends, (1) the provisions of sections 25, 28, and 29 violate her constitutional right to present a defense, or, in the alternative, sections 28 and 29 were impliedly repealed by Proposition 8, and (2) the trial court failed to properly instruct the jury on her defense that she lacked the proper mental state. We shall affirm.

Defendant shot and killed her estranged common-law husband Benjamin Lancaster. On the morning before the killing, defendant had become very upset over news of…