How have the courts treated the question of intent to torture in the context of the torture-murder special circumstance?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Pensinger, 278 Cal.Rptr. 640, 52 Cal.3d 1210, 805 P.2d 899 (Cal. 1991):

This case is distinguishable from People v. Wade, supra, 44 Cal.3d 975, 994, 244 Cal.Rptr. 905, 750 P.2d 794, where we said that a jury would not be misled by the omission of the intent-to-torture element of the torture-murder special circumstance. There, it was clear that both the People and the defendant had focused on the intent to torture, and defendant's capacity to form that intent, as to the murder charge. Defense counsel in Wade specifically discussed the question of intent to torture in his arguments to the jury. Here, neither counsel discussed the question, either in the context of the murder charge or the special circumstance allegation.

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