People v. Hendricks

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., § 190.1 et seq.).

As will appear, we conclude that the judgment must be affirmed as to guilt and the special circumstance findings must be upheld. We further conclude that a gross error in connection with the sanity hearing compels us to vacate that verdict and to set aside the judgment as to penalty. The trial judge discharged the jury, empaneled another jury to determine the issue of sanity, and when the latter was unable to reach a verdict, committed the…