People v. Guerra

*1078Opinion

CHIN, J.

This is an automatic appeal (Pen. Code, § 1239, subd. (b))1 from a judgment of death under the 1978 death penalty law. A jury convicted defendant Jose Francisco Guerra of the first degree murder of Kathleen Powell. (§ 187, subd. (a).) The jury found true the special circumstance allegation that defendant murdered Powell while engaged in the attempted commission of rape (§ 190.2, former subd. (a)(17)(iii), now subd. (a)(17)(C))2 and further found that defendant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife, to commit the murder (§ 12022, former subd. (b), now subd.…