court aware of no case in which error such as reference to commutation "has been found nonprejudicial in a death penalty case" and court strongly doubted it "could ever confidently conclude that there was no reasonable possibility" the jury's decisionmaking process was tainted
How later courts described this case
- court aware of no case in which error such as reference to commutation "has been found nonprejudicial in a death penalty case" and court strongly doubted it "could ever confidently conclude that there was no reasonable possibility" the jury's decisionmaking process was tainted
- Myers “relied almost entirely on the statistical studies, legal briefs, referee’s report, and order in the Rhymes case”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
*277 LUCAS, J.
I concur in the majority’s affirmance of the guilt and special circumstance findings. I also concur in the reversal of the death penalty, but only under compulsion of Ramos. (People v. Ramos (1984) 37 Cal.3d 136 [ 207 Cal.Rptr. 800 , 689 P.2d 430 ].) I prefer to withhold discussion of the Brown issue pending the United States Supreme Court’s decision in that case. (People v. Brown (1985) 40 Cal.3d 512 [ 220 Cal.Rptr. 637 , 709 P.2d 440 ], cert. granted, 476 U.S. 1157 [ 90 L.Ed.2d 717 , 106 S.Ct. 2274 ].)
Panelli, J., concurred.