The People, Plaintiff and Respondent v. Ramon Sandoval, Jr., Defenda — Chin, J., Concurring in Part and Dissenting…

Summary

Justice Chin concurred in affirming the convictions, enhancements, and sentence but dissented from vacating the lying-in-wait special circumstance. He reasoned that the prosecution primarily relied on direct evidence, any instructional error was harmless, and the evidence independently supported the special-circumstance finding; he also concluded that the trial court properly barred defense counsel from making inaccurate statements about life without parole. Justice Corrigan, dissenting, likewise would have affirmed the lying-in-wait finding because the circumstantial evidence did not reasonably support an innocent interpretation.