People v. Hamilton

I concur in the judgment affirming defendant’s conviction for first degree murder and in the special circumstance findings. I dissent from the affirmance of the death penalty.

I

The trial court’s instructions listed the 11 statutory factors of aggravation or mitigation. This statutory list of factors serves a constitutionally imposed function, that of establishing “a ‘meaningful basis for distinguishing the few cases in which [the death penalty] is imposed from the many cases in which it is not.’ ” (Godfrey v. Georgia (1980) 446 U.S. 420, 427 [64 L.Ed.2d 398, 405-406, 100 S.Ct. 1759], quoting…