The People, Plaintiff and Respondent v. La Twon R. Weaver, Defendant and Appellant

Summary

The California Supreme Court affirmed defendant's convictions and death sentence after concluding that his jury-trial waiver was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary as to guilt, special circumstances, and penalty. The court rejected claims of prosecutorial misconduct, improper victim-impact evidence, improper consideration of mitigating evidence, and defects in the automatic penalty-modification review. It also rejected constitutional challenges to California's death-penalty scheme, including the argument that voter-enacted special circumstances were invalid. There were no separate opinions.