Is lying in wait an aggravating circumstance in a murder case?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Johnson, 197 Cal.Rptr.3d 461, 364 P.3d 359, 62 Cal.4th 600 (Cal. 2016):

guilt or penalty phase.... [T]he aggravating circumstance must meet two requirements. First, the circumstance may not apply to every defendant convicted of a murder; it must apply only to a subclass of defendants convicted of murder. [Citation.] Second, the aggravating circumstance may not be unconstitutionally vague." (Tuilaepa v. California (1994) 512 U.S. 967, 972, 114 S.Ct. 2630, 129 L.Ed.2d 750.) The

[62 Cal.4th 635]

lying-in-wait special circumstance is an " aggravating circumstance[ ]" subject to these constitutional requirements. (people v. bacigalupo (1993) 6 cal.4th 457, 467468, 24 cal.rptr.2d 808, 862 P.2d 808.)

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