People v. Bloom

Summary

The court held that defense counsel violated Bloom’s Sixth Amendment autonomy right by conceding, over his express objection, that he was criminally responsible for killing his stepmother and stepsister. Because that error was structural, the court reversed the convictions and related allegations for those murders, the multiple-murder special-circumstance finding, and the death judgment, while leaving intact the conviction and firearm finding for his father’s murder. The court rejected Bloom’s remaining claims addressed in the opinion excerpt, including challenges to retrial, competency proceedings, former testimony, courtroom-demeanor cross-examination, and several claims of prosecutorial misconduct.