What is the test for a jury to convict a defendant of the abduction and murder of a young girl from her bedroom and dumping her body in the desert?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Westerfield, 243 Cal.Rptr.3d 18, 433 P.3d 914, 6 Cal.5th 632 (Cal. 2019):

People v. Rodrigues (1994) 8 Cal.4th 1060, 1170, 36 Cal.Rptr.2d 235, 885 P.2d 1.) The jury had already convicted defendant of the abduction and murder of seven-year-old Danielle. It had found true the special circumstance of a murder committed during the commission of a kidnapping. The jurors had heard all of the circumstances of the crimes and special circumstance, which involved the snatching of a very young girl from the safety of her bedroom in the middle of the night, her subsequent murder, and the dumping of her naked body out in the desert. The jury learned of defendants likely sexual motivation

[243 Cal.Rptr.3d 96]

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