People v. Berry

Defendant, while confined in Soledad State Prison, was charged with violating section 4500 of the Penal Code. That section provides: “Every person undergoing a life sentence in a State prison of this State, who, with malice aforethought, commits an assault upon the person of another ... by any means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, is punishable with death.” The jury found defendant guilty of the offense and sane at the time of its commission. Defendant appeals from the judgment of conviction and from two orders denying his motions for a new trial.

Defendant contends, with…