The People, Plaintiff and Respondent v. Scott Thomas Erskine, Defendant and Appellant.

Summary

The court affirmed Erskine's convictions and death sentences for the murders of two boys. It held that the trial court properly admitted evidence of two prior sexual offenses, did not err in excusing a prospective juror, and correctly rejected constitutional challenges to the penalty-phase retrial and California's capital sentencing procedures. Although the court recognized that the jury was improperly instructed to reach a penalty verdict regardless of the consequences, it found the error harmless in the context of the instructions as a whole.