The People, Plaintiff and Respondent v. John Alexander Riccardi, Defendant and Appellant — Cantil-Sakauye, J…

Summary

The concurrence agrees that the judgment of death must be reversed because controlling precedent requires automatic reversal for an erroneous exclusion of a prospective juror based on death-penalty views. It questions the theoretical basis distinguishing automatic reversal in that circumstance from harmless-error review when an improperly included juror is removed by peremptory challenge, but concludes that the existing rule must be followed. Justice Liu, concurring separately, maintains that the two precedents are adequately distinguishable and that settled law provides no basis for reconsideration.