Full opinion text
Opinion PANELLI, J. I. Introduction A jury convicted defendant David Edwin Mason of the murders of Joan Picard, Arthur Jennings, Antoinette Brown, Dorothy Lang, and Boyd Johnson, each in the first degree. (Pen. Code, § 187.) As special circumstances, the jury found that defendant had murdered Picard, Jennings, Brown, and Lang while engaged in the commission of robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(i)) and that defendant had in the same proceeding been convicted of more than one offense of murder in the first degree (id., subd. (a)(3)). The original jury failed to reach a verdict on penalty. A second jury, on retrial of the penalty phase, imposed the sentence of death. We affirm. II. Facts A. Guilt Phase Between March 9, 1980, and December 7, 1980, defendant entered the homes of, and robbed and strangled, four elderly residents of Oakland: Joan Picard (73), Arthur Jennings (83), Antoinette Brown (75), and Dorothy Lang (72). On February 4, 1981, defendant was arrested. On May 9, 1982, defendant murdered Boyd Johnson, an inmate in the Alameda County jail. 1. The Oakland Murders The prosecution proved that defendant murdered Picard, Jennings, Brown, and Lang primarily through his own admissions. Several weeks before he was arrested, defendant confessed to the four murders in a tape recording that he prepared for his family. Defendant inscribed the tape cassette with the label “David E. Mason - Epitaph.” After he was arrested, defendant provided detailed information about the murders to police in four lengthy statements. He also led representatives of the district attorney’s office to the places where the murders had occurred. a. The Murder of Joan Picard In statements to the police, defendant described Joan Picard’s murder in detail. Defendant had known Picard seven or eight years earlier, when he was a teenager. He had done odd jobs for her, such as cleaning and gardening, and considered her a friend. On occasion, Picard invited defendant into her home for refreshments, to talk about religion, and to show him her coin collection. Picard, who was concerned about burglars, also showed defendant her alarm system and its panic buttons. On March 6, 1980, low on funds, defendant remembered Picard and her coin collection. He took a bus to her home and knocked on her door. Picard, now 73 years old, remembered him and invited him in. Defendant pulled out an ice pick, told Picard that he planned to rob her, and instructed her not to scream or run. Initially, Picard did not believe what defendant was saying. To convince her that he was serious, he told her, falsely, that he was a drug addict. Defendant led Picard upstairs, where he found $3 under a stack of newspapers in the bedroom. When she attempted to reach the panic button, he pulled her back and choked her until she lost consciousness. When Picard regained consciousness, she told him to take everything. According to defendant, she said: “I’d rather let you have everything [than] to believe that you’re doing this.” When defendant began to search the house, Picard tried to escape. Defendant tied her wrists with an electrical cord and told her not to move. After finishing his search, which produced the coin collection, defendant returned to Picard. Afraid that she would identify him, he killed her by tightening a ligature around her neck. Picard’s daughter found the body two days later. It had been placed in the pantry behind a closed door. Physical evidence from the crime scene substantially corroborated defendant’s later statements. Picard’s body was on the floor. Around her neck was a wire, twisted tight with a pencil to form a tourniquet. The larynx and hyoid bones in her neck had been fractured, probably by manual strangulation. Asphyxiation due to strangulation was the cause of death. Picard’s hands were tied in the front with an electrical cord that had been cut from a clock radio. The clock radio had stopped at 12:29 p.m. Bruises on her face, neck, chest, and arms indicated a severe beating before death. There were bloodstains in the living room, on the stairway, and in the bedroom. The only clothes left on the body were a blue skirt and a brassiere. A sweater had been forcibly removed; fragments of the buttons were scattered on the floor. Picard’s daughter testified that her mother’s coin collection was missing. Defendant admitted selling the coins. A pawnbroker testified that he purchased them from defendant for $85 on March 6, 1980, at 4:40 p.m. Testifying on his own behalf at trial, defendant admitted involvement in Picard’s murder, as he had in the “Epitaph Tape” and in his statements to police. At trial, however, defendant repudiated his earlier confessions and claimed that he had robbed Picard together with an accomplice, Doug Denard. According to defendant’s trial testimony, Denard killed Picard against defendant’s wishes while defendant was out of the room. b. The Murder of Arthur Jennings In his statements to the police defendant also described his murder of 83-year-old Arthur Jennings. As a teenager, defendant had known Jennings as “Niko,” someone who would trade money for sexual favors. Defendant had met Jennings for this purpose several times, most often in Jennings’s car but twice in his cottage near defendant’s junior high school. On August 18, 1980, looking for “something to do,” defendant knocked on Jennings’s door. When the door opened defendant pushed it in, causing Jennings, who walked with a cane, to fall backwards onto the floor. Defendant rushed in and fell on top of him. Jennings swung at defendant and struggled. Defendant punched Jennings, put his hands around Jennings’s neck, and strangled him. When Jennings stopped breathing, defendant ransacked the house. Defendant left with Jennings’s World War I military service ring and about $16. A Meals-on-Wheels driver had delivered a meal and spoken to Jennings about 10:30 a.m. The next day, the driver discovered the body lying on a bed in the front room. Physical evidence substantially corroborated defendant’s later statements about the murder. Jennings’s spine had fractured in a backwards fall, and he had been severely beaten before death. There were bruises on his face, head, neck, and upper body. His larynx and hyoid bones had multiple fractures. The cause of death was asphyxiation due to manual strangulation. The coroner estimated that Jennings had eaten about an hour before he died, thus placing the time of death about 11:30 a.m. At trial, defendant repudiated his earlier statements, claiming that he had never met Jennings and did not kill him. Defendant also presented the alibi that he had been working at Thrift Town, a secondhand shop, on the day Jennings died. Defendant’s time card was punched in at 12:31 p.m. and punched out at 9:02 p.m. In rebuttal, the People showed that others could have punched defendant’s card. Defendant’s brother, who also worked at Thrift Town, punched out for lunch at 12:31 p.m. Karen Worden, defendant’s friend, punched out at 9:03 p.m. c. The Murder of Antoinette Brown Defendant killed Antoinette Brown, a 75-year-old widow living alone, on November 16, 1980. The last person who saw Brown alive was Wayne Anderson, a neighbor. About 4 p.m. on Sunday, November 16, Brown brought Anderson some homemade cookies, and he invited her to Thanksgiving dinner. When Anderson returned from work the next day he saw that Brown’s Sunday and Monday newspapers were still at her door. He knocked on her door and telephoned but got no answer. Because Brown still had not collected her newspapers on Tuesday, Anderson called Brown’s sister, who had a key to the apartment. Inside the apartment, Anderson and Brown’s sister found the body face down in the bedroom. Around Brown’s neck was a knotted ligature fashioned from a silk undergarment. Brown’s body was clothed, but her slip had been pulled up above her waist and her brassiere had been pulled down. The autopsy surgeon determined that Brown had died of asphyxiation due to strangulation. Brown had also been beaten before death. There were bruises, scrapes, and cuts over most of her body. In addition, Brown’s rings and purse had been taken from the apartment. A second neighbor, Paula White, testified that she briefly saw a young, male stranger leave the elevator on the first floor at about 4 p.m. During their investigation, police asked White to select a photograph of the stranger from a set of six. She selected photographs of defendant and one other person. In his statements to the police, defendant occasionally confused Brown’s murder with that of Dorothy Lang, his next victim. Defendant did, however, provide many accurate details. Defendant correctly remembered that the murder had occurred about 4 p.m. Defendant also correctly remembered that Brown had worn a dark colored dress with a flowered design, that she had driven a full-sized American car, that her apartment building had four floors and a balcony facing the street, that she had lived in the front apartment on the second floor, and that the underground garage, which was not visible from the street, had a cord that opened the door automatically. Defendant also drew for police an accurate diagram of Brown’s apartment and pointed out to them, from the street, the apartment in which she had died. At trial, defendant denied any involvement in Brown’s murder and testified that he had been in Oroville, approximately 145 miles away, on the evening of November 16. At the time, defendant was living with Robert Groff, whom he later killed, in a trailer park on the Feather River. Mr. Fry, Groff’s neighbor, testified that he saw defendant in the trailer park several times on the evening of Sunday, November 16, and helped him to install a new water heater in Groff’s trailer. Mrs. Fry, however, testified that her husband was mistaken about the date. According to Mrs. Fry, the couple drove to her sister’s house in Yuba City on the 16th. They did not return until late that night and left for a week’s vacation early the next morning. It was the next weekend, November 23, on which Mr. Fry helped defendant install the new heater. d. The Murder of Dorothy Lang Dorothy Lang lived alone in a second-floor apartment on Fruitvale Avenue in Oakland. She was 72 years old. Defendant killed Lang on December 6, 1980. About 9 p.m. that evening, Lang’s downstairs neighbors and friends, Teresa and John Santos, heard a loud thump and scuffling noises coming from above. Half an hour later, the Santoses heard loud breathing and things being dropped on the floor. Mrs. Santos telephoned Lang and knocked on her door but got no answer. Returning to her own apartment, Mrs. Santos stood in her bedroom, directly underneath Lang’s, and called out, “Dorothy, Dorothy, are you all right?” A voice answered, “Yes.” Immediately thereafter the Santoses heard footsteps, followed by the sound of Lang’s screen door slamming shut. The Santoses assumed Lang had gone to bed. The next morning the Santoses went upstairs to deliver Lang’s Sunday morning paper. Seeing her door ajar and fearing that something was wrong, they entered. Lang’s body was lying on the bedroom floor. It appeared that she had fled from the door to the bedroom; her glasses and a single slipper were lying near the door. Her head was covered with a bloodstained bedspread, and a crescent wrench lay nearby. Lang’s body was naked from her chest to her ankles. Her sweater and brassiere had been pushed up to the throat, exposing her breasts. Beside Lang’s body was a torn pair of pants. Small, valuable items were missing from Lang’s apartment, including an old-fashioned wedding band, an engagement ring, lapel pins, and earrings. Some ring boxes in her bedroom had also been emptied. The autopsy showed that Lang had died of asphyxiation due to manual strangulation and chest injuries. Before she died, she had been beaten on the head with the crescent wrench. Ribs had been broken, probably by someone kneeling on her chest, and she had bruises all over her body. Her vaginal tissue was slightly cut and bruised. As already mentioned, defendant in his statements to the police occasionally confused the details of Lang’s murder with that of Brown. Defendant did, however, provide many accurate details. He correctly remembered that Lang’s apartment was near a Rexall drugstore, a funeral parlor, and a park, and that he had to jump over a little wall to approach the apartment building from the side. Defendant also remembered several accurate details of the killing. In particular, defendant remembered feeling “really nervous” while in Lang’s apartment, “thinking that her neighbors had heard something” while Lang was running and yelling. Defendant also described seeing Lang at the door to her apartment, following her as she ran back towards the bedroom, hitting her, leaving her in the bedroom, and taking her “[o]ld wedding ring” and “[sjome other rings.” At trial, defendant denied involvement in Lang’s murder and testified that he had spent December 6 in Berkeley at the house of a friend, Patricia Buckley. Buckley did not remember defendant leaving the house between 5 and 10 p.m. Defendant, however, testified that he had left the house to go shopping and to eat dinner with Buckley’s 11-year-old daughter, Kathy. 2. Defendant's Flight from Police and the Epitaph Tape On January 6, 1981, four weeks after murdering Dorothy Lang, defendant fled from Alameda County sheriff’s deputies in a high-speed automobile chase. Deputies DeCost and Pixel were patrolling Interstate Highway 580 between Hayward and Castro Valley. Defendant passed the patrol car in a Dodge Charger, going about 80 miles per hour. When the patrol car pursued, defendant left the freeway and entered a residential area, making several turns into side streets. Eventually he stopped. When the patrol car stopped, too, defendant sped away at 70 miles per hour, still in a residential area. As the chase approached a dead end, defendant decelerated and jumped out of the car. He hit the ground running and escaped on foot. The deputies saw defendant’s face and, in the car, found a work order for auto repairs bearing the name “D. Mason” and the address of defendant’s parents. Five days later, on January 11, 1981, the Oakland Tribune published an article entitled “Murder, Epidemic of Violence.” The article listed, in chronological order, 145 unsolved homicides that had occurred in Oakland during 1980. For each murder, the article listed in summary fashion the date of the killing, the victim’s name, address, and age, the manner of killing, the probable motive, and whether there were suspects. The newspaper article did not provide further details of the crimes, such as the condition of the bodies or what items had been taken from the victims’ dwellings. About the murders involved in this case, the article listed only the following: “[No.] 23/ Mar. 9/ Joan Picard, 69/ 3826 Fruit-vale Ave./ Strangled, burglary/ No suspects/ . . . [No.] 84/ Aug. 10/ Arthur Jennings, 83/ 2826 Carmel St./ Strangled, burglary/ No suspects/ . . . [No.] 123/ Nov. 18/ Antoinette Brown, 79/ 3952 Harrison St./ Strangled, no motive/ No suspects/ . . . [No.] 132/ Dec 7/ Dorothy White, 72/ 1621 Fruitvale Ave./ Strangled, no motive/ No suspects . . . .” The article incorrectly reported Lang’s last name as White. On January 22, Officer Larry Schuchert visited defendant’s parents’ home in San Lorenzo and talked with Margie Mason, his mother, and Mark, one of his brothers. Mark gave Officer Schuchert a cassette tape labelled “David E. Mason - Epitaph.” Mark said that defendant had given him the tape a few days earlier and asked him to keep it until something happened to him. With the family’s permission, Schuchert played the tape. Defendant’s family listened and recognized his voice. On the tape, defendant spoke of his life and philosophy, sent messages to his family, and predicted that he would die in a shoot-out with police. Defendant also confessed to a long string of violent crimes, “guess[ing] it might be . . .of interest to the police” who have “lots of things that need to be solved.” Referring to the Oakland Tribune article about unsolved murders, defendant stated that he could “clarify some of their mysterious haps ... in Oakland ... on the 187’s of the Penal Code. Uh, it was number 23, number 84, number 123 and 132 [pause] I’m sure of. You understand what numbers I related?” Defendant was arrested 10 days later, on February 4, 1981. After hearing and acknowledging his Miranda rights (Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [16 L.Ed.2d 694, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 10 A.L.R.3d 974]), defendant gave four detailed statements to police. In the statements, defendant admitted that he had killed Picard, Jennings, Brown, Lang, and one other person, and committed several burglaries and armed robberies. That evening, defendant took a deputy district attorney, an investigator, and a videotape operator to the places where he had killed Picard, Jennings, Brown, and Lang. 3. The Murder of Boyd Johnson On May 8, 1982, defendant was being held in the Alameda County jail pending trial. Boyd Johnson arrived at the jail that evening and died there the next day. Johnson had been arrested for the murder and rape of Patricia Garcia. Earlier that day, Johnson had led police in Shasta County to Garcia’s body. A television camera crew accompanying the party had taped Johnson’s emotional confession, which implicated other persons. When Johnson arrived at the jail, sheriff’s deputies prepared to lock him in “F Tank,” the cell block in which it was customary to hold informants. On that day, F Tank was already occupied by four inmates: Quentin Shorter, Nathaniel Yancey, Maurice Grant, and defendant. Defendant, alone, was not an informant. The deputy sheriff on duty was Barry Silva. Johnson, learning that he was not to be held alone in protective custody, became verbally abusive and demanded that Deputy Silva call Sergeant Neal, who was investigating the case. Despite Silva’s warning, Johnson also insisted on carrying Sergeant Neal’s business card with him into F Tank. The next day, about 2:30 p.m., defendant and Shorter asked Deputy Silva who Johnson was. Shortly thereafter, Silva saw a short announcement on television that Johnson’s confession would be broadcast on the evening news. Silva called the telephone in F Tank and told defendant that, “if he were to pay attention to the news, his questions would be answered.” According to Yancey, defendant hung up the telephone and said, “[i]t’s all right to kill him,” and “watch the news.” Johnson, who had taken a sleeping pill, slept through the broadcast. After the news had ended, Silva telephoned F Tank again. Defendant told Silva that there might be “a third degree session” when Johnson awoke. Silva understood this to mean that defendant and others might threaten Johnson to obtain further information. Silva was more concerned about defendant than the other inmates, however, because defendant had been involved in previous acts of violence in the jail. Silva told defendant that he “didn’t want any trouble in the jail and certainly not on our shift.” At that point defendant, Shorter, and Grant discussed killing Johnson. Defendant said that he had known Patricia Garcia and thought that he knew Johnson, too. Referring to prison documents that depicted defendant as a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, Shorter told defendant that he “would get a promotion” for the killing. Grant returned to his cell, promising secrecy. Yancey had already left, wanting nothing to do with the plan. Shorter, according to his own testimony, went with defendant to Johnson’s cell. Defendant was carrying a towel, knotted into a garrote. Johnson was asleep on the bed, lying on his back. Defendant jumped on Johnson’s chest and wrapped the garrote around his neck. Shorter held Johnson’s legs when he began to kick. When Johnson stopped moving, defendant and Shorter decided to make the incident appear to have been a suicide. They carried the body to the shower and hung it from a heavy shower rod with the towel. As they were hanging the body, Johnson suddenly began to bleed onto both men. They disposed of their clothes. Defendant put his jail-issue pants into the laundry bag but kept his tennis shoes, on which small blood spots remained. Grant and Yancey corroborated Shorter’s testimony. Both men testified that they saw defendant and Shorter approach Johnson’s cell, heard the ensuing struggle, and saw the two assailants hang Johnson in the shower. At 10:30 p.m., a security officer noticed that Johnson was not in his cell but assumed that he was showering. Defendant, expressing surprise that the body had not been found, telephoned the guards to report that a man was hanging in the shower. Responding to the call, deputies found defendant, holding up Johnson in a feigned effort to relieve the pressure on his neck. Defendant helped the deputies pull Johnson out of the shower and perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the dead body. The autopsy showed that both the ligature and the hanging had contributed to Johnson’s death. Johnson had also been beaten about the face and head while still alive. In their investigation, deputies found Johnson’s blood on defendant’s pants and shoes. A towel in defendant’s cell also bore traces of Johnson’s blood. Defendant had scratches and bruises on his face, knuckles, arms, and chest, and his fingers were swollen. Scrapings from Johnson’s fingernails produced traces of type O blood, defendant’s type. The prosecution attempted to prove that defendant later told Hershell Moore, another inmate, that defendant “took Boyd Johnson to the gallows because he was a snitch.” When called to testify, however, Moore denied having heard the remark. An investigator for the district attorney’s office, called to impeach Moore, testified that Moore had repeated defendant’s statement during an unrelated investigation. The defense portrayed the killing as the outcome of a fight provoked by Johnson’s insults and suggestions by Deputy Silva that Johnson should be killed. Defendant testified that he had known Garcia, Johnson’s victim. On the evening he arrived at the jail, Johnson was making sexual and derogatory remarks about Garcia and bragging about the rape. Defendant asked him not to do so. Later, according to defendant, Silva telephoned, saying that he was “surprised that there was no activity in F Tank” because “the morgue [was] not that far away.” That evening, defendant again heard Johnson’s voice down the hall, discussing Garcia and insulting defendant. Defendant confronted Johnson and they fought. Defendant killed Johnson with a choke hold. B. Penalty Phase At the penalty phase, the prosecution presented the circumstances of the five charged murders as factors in aggravation. (§ 190.3, subd. (a).) In addition, the prosecution proved one prior felony conviction {id., subd. (c)), and twelve instances of criminal conduct involving violence or an express or implied threat of violence {id., subd. (b)): one uncharged homicide, one attempted robbery, four armed robberies, one instance of possession of a weapon by an ex-felon, three instances of possession of weapons as an inmate, and two attempts to escape from jail. 1. Aggravating Evidence a. Prior Felony Conviction Virginia Janssen: Robbery and Assault With a Deadly Weapon On July 8, 1977, defendant entered the Western Welding Supply Company in San Leandro and asked Virginia Janssen, the clerk, for some items. When Janssen sat down to prepare an invoice, defendant stabbed her through the back with a 10-inch-long ice pick. Defendant then ordered her to empty the safe, the cash box, and her purse. Defendant told her that, if she identified him to police, he would return to kill her after leaving prison. After wiping his fingerprints from things he had touched and retrieving the ice pick, defendant left the store with about $270. The next day, while hospitalized for the stab wound, Janssen identified defendant in a photographic show-up. Shortly thereafter, having learned that police were looking for him, defendant surrendered and confessed to the robbery and assault. After pleading guilty to those crimes, he spent two years in state prison. On July 13, 1979, he was released on parole. b. Prior Criminal Activity The first six instances of prior criminal activity occurred before defendant was arrested and taken into custody. Defendant admitted these acts in the “Epitaph Tape,” in his subsequent statements to police, and in his own testimony at trial. (i) Donald Gion: Attempted Robbery On March 20, 1980, 14 days after murdering Joan Picard, defendant attempted to rob Donald Gion. Gion arrived at his home in Fremont shortly after midnight. The garage door was already open. Gion parked his truck in the garage, got out, and shut the door. At that point Gion realized that another man was in the garage with him. Defendant, wearing a nylon stocking over his head and carrying a .38-caliber pistol, approached Gion. Gion grabbed a garbage can lid, swung it at defendant, and shouted for his wife to call the police. Defendant struck Gion on the head with the pistol and demanded money. Gion’s wife, responding to her husband’s screams, opened the garage door. Defendant fled. On August 18, 1980, five months after this incident, defendant killed Arthur Jennings. On November 16, 1980, he killed Antoinette Brown. (ii) Robert Groff: Murder Defendant killed Robert Groff" on November 27, 1980. At the time of the trial in this case, a complaint charging defendant with murder was pending in Butte County. In his own words, defendant had made a practice of “hustling gays,” receiving money and a place to live in exchange for sexual favors. Defendant met Groff in a gay bar in Hayward in April 1980 and, shortly thereafter, moved into Groff’s home. Groff, whose business was raising purebred dogs, initially employed defendant as a kennel boy. Over time, Groff gave him legal title to checking accounts, vehicles, and registered dogs. Defendant left Groff’s home in July 1980 when he discovered that Groff had infected him with herpes. Groff moved his trailer to Oroville. In September, however, defendant travelled to Oroville and moved in again with Groff. The killing occurred on Thanksgiving Day, 1980. Groff, who had been drinking, said that “all [defendant] wanted was the dogs.” Groff produced a gun and said that he would shoot defendant unless he left. Defendant took the gun away, left the trailer, and went for a drive. When he returned, Groff was asleep. Defendant had a few drinks of Groff’s whiskey, went to his room, and shot him in the face. After a night’s sleep, defendant got up, poured whiskey on the body to retard decomposition, and covered the body with blankets. He then left, taking along checks on Groff’s bank accounts, which he forged and cashed, some jewelry, and the shell casing from the bullet that had killed Groff. (iii) John and Arlene Vasko: Robbery About noon on December 10, 1980, four days after murdering Dorothy Lang, defendant knocked on the door of John and Arlene Vasko’s home in Castro Valley. Defendant pretended to be selling firewood. Mr. Vasko expressed interest, and defendant said that he would return later in the day with his partner and the wood. At about 6 p.m. defendant returned, alone. Because it was windy and cold, Mr. Vasko invited him inside to wait for his partner. As time wore on, the elderly couple gave him dinner and watched television with him. Defendant, using the telephone for purported calls to an answering service, offered various excuses for his partner’s delay. After several hours, he produced a pistol and two pairs of handcuffs, said that he had no wood to sell, and handcuffed the Vaskos to a chair. He took some cash, a .22-caliber pistol, jewelry worth about $42,000, and a few gold coins. Defendant explained that Mr. Vasko’s coin dealer, who was out of prison on parole, had told defendant that the Vaskos would have valuables. (iv) Nina Agisheff/P & R Enterprises: Robbery On December 17, 1980, defendant robbed P & R Enterprises, a jewelry store in Menlo Park. Defendant told Nina Agisheff, the clerk, that he was married, that his wife had put a deposit on a gold necklace for Christmas, and that he wished to pay the balance. Since there was no necklace marked with defendant’s name, Agisheff showed him several others. Defendant drew a gun, ordered Agisheff to sit down, and took about $22,000 worth of jewelry. As he left, defendant threatened to shoot Agisheff if she followed, (v) Ricardo and Laura Salas: Robbery On the evening of January 4, 1981, defendant and an accomplice, Steve Denard, robbed Ricardo and Laura Salas at their home in Medford, Oregon. Mr. Salas had just parked his car and stepped out when defendant pointed a gun at his head. The robbers, who had brought along a roll of packing tape for the occasion, bound the Salases to their bed. Defendant demanded information about a jewelry store that Salas owned. Salas gave defendant some information about the store’s alarm system but told him that he would not be able to gain entry. Hearing this, defendant kicked Salas, held a pistol to his head, threatened to shoot him, and made him repeat the information about the alarm system. Defendant told the Salases that his partner was going to the jewelry store. Defendant said that, if his partner did not call in 10 minutes to say that he had successfully entered the store, defendant would kill them both. Defendant left the room. After a long wait, the Salases decided that defendant had gone, freed themselves, and called the police. The robbers had taken the keys to the store and approximately $9,000 worth of the Salases’ jewelry, including their wedding rings. (vi) Celia Keener/Design Emporium: Robbery On the morning of February 3, 1981, defendant robbed the Design Emporium, a jewelry store in Clovis. He had been in the store earlier in the day, assertedly shopping for a Valentine’s Day present. When defendant reentered the store, he was carrying a briefcase that contained a .25-caliber automatic pistol and a sawed-off, double-barrelled shotgun. Defendant drew the pistol, ordered Celia Keener, the clerk, to sit on the floor, and tied her wrists to the arm of a chair. Placing a “closed” sign in the window, defendant filled the briefcase with approximately $47,000 worth of jewelry. Defendant also took $760 in cash from the safe and from Keener’s purse. Defendant allowed Keener to keep her wedding ring. As he left, defendant said: “It doesn’t matter if you can i.d. me because they know who I am.” “That’s why I’m not hurting you.” (vii) Possession of Weapons by Ex-felon On February 3, 1981, members of federal and state law enforcement agencies had defendant under surveillance. Shortly before midnight, he checked into a room at the Holiday Inn in Livermore. Police evacuated the floor. They arrested him the next morning without resistance as he stepped into the hall. Inside his room, the police found a loaded .25-caliber automatic pistol with a live round in the chamber, a loaded .12-gauge, sawed-off, double-barrelled shotgun, and additional ammunition for both guns. (viii) Possession of Weapons in Jail While defendant was confined in the Alameda County jail, sheriff’s deputies three times found weapons in his cell. On May 4, 1982, five days before defendant murdered Boyd Johnson, deputies found a double-edged razor blade hidden underneath his bunk. An inmate is not permitted to possess a razor blade unless it is locked in a special safety-razor holder. Deputies found a second weapon in defendant’s cell on August 6, 1982. The weapon, a homemade “shank,” consisted of a straightened, sharpened, heavy-duty paper clip protruding from the end of the plastic barrel of a ballpoint pen, which had been melted at the end to hold the metal tip in place while stabbing. Deputies found the third weapon on August 10, 1982, while escorting defendant to his cell. Defendant had just received a visitor and had taken with him from the visitor’s booth a telephone cord with the heavy receiver still attached. Defendant surrendered the cord and receiver, which he had concealed under loose clothing, when deputies informed him that they planned to perform a strip-search. (ix) Escape Attempts Defendant twice attempted to escape during trial. On July 17, 1983, sheriff’s deputies discovered that defendant had sawed loose on two sides the metal screen that covered the window to his cell. Deputies found a jeweler’s carborundum saw with homemade handles in a laundry room near defendant’s cell. The screen was replaced. On August 23, deputies discovered that defendant had managed to make a new, three- by three-inch cut in the screen. 2. Mitigating Evidence The defense presented five witnesses at the penalty phase: defendant, his juvenile probation officer, his mother, his father, and two of his sisters. Defendant denied, as he had at the guilt phase, that he had personally killed Picard or been involved in the killings of Jennings, Brown, and Lang. With regard to the killing of Groff, defendant emphasized that he had been drinking and upset by the accusation that he was only interested in Groff’s material possessions. Defendant also discussed the “Epitaph Tape” and his childhood. The remainder of the defense case concerned defendant’s childhood. Defendant testified that his parents, who were extremely religious, believed that a person was controlled either by God or Satan. Defendant and his siblings were compelled to spend most of their free time either at church or at home. The parents’ approach to disciplinary problems was to “rebuke” Satan out of the offending child with prayers. They also resorted frequently to corporal punishment, usually in the form of blows with a switch. Defendant reported receiving over a hundred blows on two occasions. Defendant’s mother also punished her children at times by choking. Charlene and Nancy, two of defendant’s adult sisters, largely confirmed defendant’s testimony. They also criticized their parent’s treatment of children and testified that they would not raise their own children in the same way. Cynthia Ritenour, the juvenile probation officer formerly assigned to defendant, testified about the investigative report she had prepared when he was 14 years old. It was at that age that he was declared a ward of the court. His parents had initiated the proceeding on account of his uncontrollable behavior. Defendant had misbehaved chronically at school, set fires at home and at church, held a knife over his baby brother’s crib, attempted suicide, and not responded to discipline. Unable to control him, defendant’s parents had begun to lock him in his bedroom when they were away from home. They also installed bars over his bedroom window. In her report, Ritenour confirmed that defendant had reported extremely harsh treatment by his parents. However, Ritenour also expressed some doubts about his veracity. Noting his above average intelligence and reading ability, Ritenour concluded at the time that counselling might be helpful. Defendant’s parents testified about the remainder of his youth. After being declared a ward of the court, he spent the next few years at foster homes, residential treatment programs, and the California Youth Authority. After dropping out of school in the 11th grade, defendant spent 4 months in the Marine Corps. Shortly after his discharge, he was arrested for the robbery of Virginia Janssen. Defendant’s parents attributed his problems to the state’s failure to provide him with adequate counseling. III. Guilt Phase Issues A. Denial of Motions to Sever 1. The Johnson Murder Defendant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by denying his motion to sever the Johnson murder charge and that the resulting, consolidated trial on five murder counts caused gross unfairness. We disagree. The People originally charged defendant with Johnson’s murder in a separate information. Subsequently, the trial court granted the People’s motion to consolidate that information with the prior information charging defendant with the murders of Picard, Jennings, Brown, and Lang. The trial court also denied a motion to sever. We first consider the trial court’s rulings on the motions for consolidation and severance, based on “ ‘the showings then made and the facts then known.’ ” (People v. Johnson (1988) 47 Cal.3d 576, 588 [253 Cal.Rptr. 710, 764 P.2d 1087], quoting People v. Balderas (1985) 41 Cal.3d 144, 171 [222 Cal.Rptr. 184, 711 P.2d 480].) We hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion. This case clearly met the statutory requirements for joinder because the five murders were of the same class. Under section 954, “[a]n accusatory pleading may charge two or more . . . different offenses of the same class of crimes or offenses . . . .” Because the statutory requirements for joinder were satisfied, defendant would have been able to defeat consolidation “only on clear showing of prejudice.” (Williams v. Superior Court (1984) 36 Cal.3d 441, 447 [204 Cal.Rptr. 700, 683 P.2d 699].) To show prejudice was, of course, his burden. (People v. Bean (1988) 46 Cal.3d 919, 938-939 [251 Cal.Rptr. 467, 760 P.2d 996].) Defendant attempted to show potential prejudice by arguing (1) that evidence related to Johnson’s murder would not be admissible in a separate trial on the murders of Picard, Jennings, Brown, and Lang, (2) that consolidation of a fifth murder count would inflame the jury, and (3) that the Johnson murder charge would not be a capital charge unless consolidated. We consider each argument in turn. With regard to defendant’s first argument, we readily assume that the evidence was not cross-admissible. However, “we have made clear on several occasions that cross-admissibility is not the sine qua non of joint trials.” (Frank v. Superior Court (1989) 48 Cal.3d 632, 641 [257 Cal.Rptr. 550, 770 P.2d 1119]; see also People v. Ruiz (1988) 44 Cal.3d 589, 606 [244 Cal.Rptr. 200, 749 P.2d 854]; People v. Bean, supra, 46 Cal.3d at p.938; People v. Poggi (1988) 45 Cal.3d 306, 321 [246 Cal.Rptr. 886, 753 P.2d 1082]; People v. Walker (1988) 47 Cal.3d 605, 623 [253 Cal.Rptr. 863, 765 P.2d 70]; People v. Balderas, supra, 41 Cal.3d at p. 173.) While we have held that cross-admissibility ordinarily dispels any inference of prejudice, we have never held that the absence of cross-admissibility, by itself, sufficed to demonstrate prejudice. Defendant’s second argument, that consolidation threatened to inflame the jury, is based on a misreading of our prior opinions on the subject. Defendant argues that each of the counts was inflammatory. However, we have never adopted a rule that bars consolidation of multiple-murder counts simply because the defendant is alleged to have acted brutally in each. Instead, what we have held is that it may be error to consolidate an inflammatory offense with one that is not under circumstances where the jury cannot be expected to try both fairly. The danger to be avoided is “that strong evidence of a lesser but inflammatory crime might be used to bolster a weak prosecution case” on another crime. (People v. Walker, supra, 47 Cal.3d at p. 623; see also Coleman v. Superior Court (1981) 116 Cal.App.3d 129, 138 [172 Cal.Rptr. 86].) Consolidation did not create such a danger in this case because no murder count was significantly stronger or more inflammatory than the others. Defendant’s third argument, that consolidation would make the Johnson murder a capital crime, was simply incorrect. It is true that the only special circumstance charged in connection with Johnson’s murder was that defendant had “in this proceeding been convicted of more than one offense of murder in the first or second degree.” (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3).) Defendant’s argument, however, erroneously assumes that the People would have tried the Johnson murder, which occurred last in time, before trying the murders of Picard, Jennings, Brown, and Lang. There was no requirement that the People try the Johnson murder first. Moreover, a single murder conviction in a prior proceeding based on the killing of Picard, Jennings, Brown, or Lang would have permitted the People to amend the information regarding the Johnson murder to charge that defendant had been “previously convicted of murder in the first or second degree.” (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(2).) In summary, defendant did not carry his burden to show prejudice. (Williams v. Superior Court, supra, 36 Cal.3d at p.447.) Thus, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by consolidating the Johnson murder and denying defendant’s motion to sever. Regardless of the lack of potential prejudice, defendant argues that the trial court should nevertheless have exercised its discretion to sever the Johnson murder charge because joint trials did not serve judicial efficiency. We disagree. Consolidation usually promotes efficiency, and this case was no exception. Consolidation obviated the need to select an additional jury to try the Johnson murder. This can be a substantial benefit in a capital case; the initial jury selection in this case took over two months. Moreover, consolidation reduced by at least a year the delay in bringing the Johnson murder to trial. Finally, a separate trial on the Johnson murder, charged as a capital case (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(2)), would have involved presentation of evidence on the murders of Picard, Jennings, Brown, and Lang as circumstances in aggravation. (§ 190.3, subds. (b) & (c).) Defendant argues that the costs of consolidation were substantial because “no accounting of the impact of this joinder on the economics of the judicial system would be fair without considering the costs of the struggle over joinder itself.” In other words, defendant argues that “the cost of litigation was so high he should have won.” We reject the argument. A defendant can prevent consolidation of properly joined charges only with a “clear showing of prejudice” (Williams v. Superior Court, supra, 36 Cal.3d at p. 447), not by threatening to make litigation over the trial court’s ruling expensive. Defendant next contends that, even if the trial court did not abuse its discretion, consolidation of the Johnson murder charge caused such gross unfairness as to deprive him of a fair trial. (See People v. Johnson, supra, 47 Cal.3d at p. 591.) Defendant attempts to demonstrate gross unfairness by repeating his arguments regarding the absence of cross-admissibility, the consolidation of inflammatory charges, and the capital nature of the Johnson murder charge. However, the facts as shown at trial were not significantly different than the facts before the trial court at the time it ruled on defendant’s motion to sever. Thus, the same arguments do not support a different result after trial. Finally, defendant seeks to demonstrate that consolidation resulted in gross unfairness by characterizing the evidence against him on Johnson’s murder as relatively strong compared with the evidence on the murders of Picard, Jennings, Brown, and Lang. We do not, however, accept defendant’s characterization of the evidence; there was overwhelmingly strong evidence against him on every count. The prosecution’s evidence on Johnson’s murder included defendant’s own testimony that he used a choke hold on Johnson, the eyewitness testimony of defendant’s accomplice, Johnson’s blood on defendant’s clothes, and defendant’s blood underneath Johnson’s fingernails. The prosecution’s evidence on the other murders included defendant’s unsolicited confession in the “Epitaph Tape,” four subsequent confessions to police, and the physical evidence gathered at the crime scenes, which substantially corroborated defendant’s statements. In view of this evidence, it cannot be said on any principled basis that the Johnson murder count was stronger than the others. 2. The Picard Murder Defendant next contends that the trial court abused its discretion by denying his motion to sever the Picard murder charge and that its consolidation caused gross unfairness at trial. Defendant bases these arguments on the assumption that the strangulation/murder/robberies of the four elderly victims were not sufficiently similar to be cross-admissible on the issue of identity. However, whether or not the evidence was cross-admissible, defendant has not carried his burden of showing prejudice. As we have already observed, the absence of cross-admissibility does not by itself establish prejudice. (See Frank v. Superior Court, supra, 48 Cal.3d at p. 641.) Defendant also claims that consolidation caused prejudice because the Picard murder charge was relatively strong in comparison with the others. It is true that defendant, at the time of trial, no longer admitted involvement in the murders of Jennings, Brown, and Lang. However, defendant had confessed to each of the murders several times before trial. His llth-hour attempt to repudiate these confessions did not make the evidence of his guilt so weak as to render consolidation an abuse of discretion. B. Jury Selection 1. Prosecutor’s Use of Peremptory Challenges Defendant argues that the court erroneously denied his motion under People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258 [148 Cal.Rptr. 890, 583 P.2d 748]. Defendant, who is White, contends that group bias against Blacks motivated the prosecutor’s use of peremptory challenges to exclude some prospective jurors from the panel. Assuming for the sake of argument that defendant made out a prima facie case of discrimination, it is clear from the record, as the trial court expressly found, that each of the prosecutor’s challenges had an adequate legal basis other than group bias. Defense counsel made two Wheeler motions. In his first, he argued that the prosecutor was using peremptory challenges to exclude persons of any race with reservations about capital punishment. Defendant does not renew this argument on appeal. We set out this incident only because it helps to explain the court’s denial of defendant’s second Wheeler motion based on alleged racial bias. For the record, defense counsel named those prospective jurors whose answers, in his opinion, showed that they “were opposed to the death penalty.” Included in this group were each of the Black prospective jurors whom the prosecutor had peremptorily challenged. Although the court correctly declined to hold that counsel had made out a prima facie case based upon exclusion of death penalty skeptics (People v. Zimmerman (1984) 36 Cal.3d 154, 160-161 [202 Cal.Rptr. 826, 680 P.2d 776]), the prosecutor nevertheless insisted on putting into the record his reasons for excluding such persons. Defendant’s second Wheeler motion raised a claim of exclusion based on racial bias. The trial court did not expressly rule that defense counsel had made out a prima facie case under Wheeler. Indeed, the court expressed doubt whether the prosecutor could possibly have had a motive to exclude Black prospective jurors, since defendant and all of his victims were White and since there would be evidence that defendant was reputed to belong to the Aryan Brotherhood, a White racist prison gang. Defense counsel declined the court’s invitation to explain, in view of these factors, how an absence of Black jurors might prejudice defendant. At that point the trial court simply turned to the prosecutor for a response. Because the prosecutor had already articulated his reasons for excluding each of the Black prospective jurors and alternates, he asked the court to “incorporate [his] previous remarks.” The prosecutor also emphasized what the court and both counsel had already acknowledged and discussed at length, i.e., that each of the challenged Black men and women had expressed a reluctance to impose the death penalty. For this reason, the court expressly found that the prosecutor had “acceptable, legal bases for [the prospective jurors’] exclusion, if, coincidentally, they happened] to be Black.” Because the record supports this finding, we reject defendant’s challenge to the trial court’s ruling.* ** Nor does the record support defendant’s argument that the prosecutor failed to articulate reasons for excluding prospective juror Valerie Jessie. The record shows that the prosecutor did mention Jessie and stated that he had challenged each of the Black prospective jurors who were excluded, including Jessie, because of opposition to the death penalty. The record also contradicts defendant’s argument that the trial court “did nothing to refresh its memory” of the protracted voir dire and, in particular, “did not consult [her] notes.” The record shows that the judge did consult her notes on jury selection before hearing the Wheeler motion. Finally, defendant argues that the trial court devoted insufficient attention to the prosecutor’s explanation of his peremptory challenges. Defendant relies on People v. Hall (1983) 35 Cal.3d 161 [197 Cal.Rptr. 71, 672 P.2d 854], in which we stated that the court must make a “sincere and reasoned attempt to evaluate the prosecutor’s explanation” in order to “satisfy itself that the explanation is genuine.” (Id., at p. 167.) However, since the prosecutor explained that the prospective jurors’ opposition to the death penalty was the primary basis for his peremptory challenges, and since defense counsel himself had argued that each of the excluded Black prospective jurors was opposed to the death penalty, there was no reason to doubt that the prosecutor’s explanation was genuine. Accordingly, assuming for the sake of argument that defense counsel made out a prima facie case of group bias, the prosecutor adequately demonstrated that each peremptory challenge of a Black prospective juror or alternate had a proper basis unrelated to group bias. Therefore, the trial court properly denied counsel’s Wheeler motion. 2. Limitation of Voir Dire Next, defendant argues that the trial court impermissibly restricted the scope of voir dire. The record, however, shows that the court properly confined its supervision of voir dire to the limits established in People v. Williams (1981) 29 Cal.3d 392 [174 Cal.Rptr. 317, 628 P.2d 869]. In People v. Williams, supra, we held that counsel “should be allowed to ask questions reasonably designed to assist in the intelligent exercise of peremptory challenges whether or not such questions are also likely to uncover grounds sufficient to sustain a challenge for cause.” (Id., at p. 407.) In so doing, however, we expressly “le[ft] intact the considerable discretion of the trial court to contain voir dire within reasonable limits.” (Id., at p. 408, italics added.) We also “reaffirmed] that it is not ‘a function of the examination of prospective jurors to educate the jury panel to the particular facts of the case, to compel the jurors to commit themselves to vote a particular way, to prejudice the jury for or against a particular party, to argue the case, to indoctrinate the jury, or to instruct the jury in matters of law.’ ” (Ibid., quoting Rousseau v. West Coast House Movers (1967) 256 Cal.App.2d 878, 882 [64 Cal.Rptr. 655].) On appeal defendant argues that the court “took the general view that [voir dire] questioning had to be limited to the nature of the charges as they were reflected upon the face of the information.” Our review of the record, however, shows that the court made no such ruling. Instead, defendant’s characterization of the court’s “general view” is really just an objection to the court’s refusal to permit a few, particular questions. Defendant objects, in particular, to the court’s denial of his counsel’s request for permission to “summarize the facts of the prosecution’s case” and to ask each juror based upon the summary whether he or she “would automatically vote for death.” To this end, counsel proposed a lengthy, factually detailed question that would have given prospective jurors substantial information about defendant’s victims and the manner in which they were killed. The proposed question, as presented to the court, was almost certain to accomplish two of the evils against which we warned in People v. Williams, supra: “ ‘educating] the jury panel to the particular facts of the case [and] compelling] the jurors to commit themselves to vote a particular way. . . (29 Cal.3d at p.408.) Accordingly, the court properly exercised its discretion to disallow the proposed question. It is not a proper object of voir dire to obtain a juror’s advisory opinion based upon a preview of the evidence. Many persons whose general neutrality toward capital punishment qualifies them to sit as jurors might, if presented with the gruesome details of a multiple-murder case, conclude that they would likely, if not automatically, vote for death. Defendant also objects to the court’s refusal to permit counsel to ask two prospective jurors whether, if they believed that a witness was an informant and was testifying “in exchange for some lesser sentence,” then that “would have some bearing on the weight or credibility that that witness may have in your mind?” The prosecutor objected to the question on the correct ground that it “ask[ed] for a prejudgment,” specifically of Maurice Grant’s credibility, and the court properly sustained the objection both times it was asked. (See People v. Williams, supra, 29 Cal.3d at p. 408.) Finally, defendant challenges the court’s refusal to permit two questions involving evidence that would be presented at the penalty phase. The questions would have solicited prospective jurors’ attitudes about fundamentalist churches and about defendant’s strict upbringing. Since the jury that tried the guilt phase did not reach a verdict on penalty, the refusal to permit such questions, even if erroneous, cannot have been prejudicial. C. Evidentiary Rulings 1. Admission of Evidence of Flight The trial court admitted, to show consciousness of guilt, evidence of the high-speed automobile chase involving defendant and two Alameda County sheriff’s deputies. Defendant argues that the court should have exercised its discretion to exclude the evidence under Evidence Code section 352 because the risk of undue prejudice outweighed probative value. Defendant also argues that the court should not have instructed the jury on flight pursuant to section 1127c. We reject both arguments. Defendant’s flight took place on January 6, 1981, only four weeks after, and in the same jurisdiction as, the murder of Dorothy Lang. Defendant argues that his flight was so remote from the charged offenses that it “was of marginal probative value, if any.” Common sense, however, suggests that a guilty person does not lose the desire to avoid apprehension for offenses as grave as multiple murders after only a few weeks. Nor do our decisions create inflexible rules about the required proximity between crime and flight. Instead, the facts of each case determine whether it is reasonable to infer that flight shows consciousness of guilt. In People v. Santo (1954) 43 Cal.2d 319 [273 P.2d 249], for example, we held that the trial court properly admitted evidence of flight occurring more than a month after the charged murder because the facts fairly supported that inference. (43 Cal.2d at pp. 327-330.) Based on the assumption that his flight was of marginal probative value—an assumption that we do not necessarily accept—defendant makes the further argument that admission of the evidence was unduly prejudicial because it forced him to admit uncharged crimes to explain the flight. However, the existence of other crimes which may explain the defendant’s flight goes to the weight, not to the admissibility, of evidence. In People v. Santo, supra, 43 Cal.2d 319, the defendants argued that their flight indicated consciousness of guilt of two uncharged crimes. We held that, while “[i]t is true that the evidence [of flight] does not specifically and directly evidence consciousness of guilt of the killing . . . any more than it evidences consciousness of guilt of [the uncharged offenses],” nevertheless “[i]t was for the jury to determine the weight, if any, against defendants of such evidence.” (Id., at p. 330; see also People v. Perry (1972) 7 Cal.3d 756, 772-774 [103 Cal.Rptr. 161, 499 P.2d 129].) The uncharged offenses that defendant recounted in order to explain his flight, and which he now claims were highly prejudicial, were no less remote than the murder of Dorothy Lang. The uncharged murder of Robert Groff was committed two weeks before the murder of Lang, in a different jurisdiction and more than a hundred miles from the place where defendant had fled from the Alameda County sheriff’s deputies. The armed robbery of John Vasko, which did take place in Alameda County, occurred on December 10, 1980, only four days after the murder of Dorothy Lang. On these facts, the inference that defendant fled to avoid apprehension for the murders of Picard, Jennings, Brown, and Lang is at least as strong as the inference that he fled to avoid apprehension for the murder of Groff and the armed robbery of Vasko. (Cf. People v. Santo, supra, 43 Cal.2d at p. 330.) Therefore, it was within the trial court’s discretion to conclude that any danger of undue prejudice associated with the evidence of flight did not outweigh the evidence’s probative value. (See Evid. Code, § 352.) Defendant next claims that it was error to instruct the jury on flight. Citing People v. Anjell (1979) 100 Cal.App.3d 189 [160 Cal.Rptr. 669], defendant argues that such an instruction is erroneous whenever “identity is a contested issue.” (Id., at p. 199.) While defendant admitted involvement in the Picard murder, he presented alibis for the murders of Jennings, Brown, and Lang. We reject the argument. The court that decided People v. Anjell, supra, has since retreated from the overly broad dictum on which defendant relies, holding that the case “does not stand for such a sweeping proposition.” (People v. Rhodes (1989) 209 Cal.App.3d 1471, 1475 [258 Cal.Rptr. 71].) Elsewhere, Anjell’s broad dictum has been widely rejected. (E.g., People v. Batey (1989) 213 Cal.App.3d 582, 585-588 [261 Cal.Rptr. 674]; People v. Simon (1989) 208 Cal.App.3d 841, 850-851 [256 Cal.Rptr. 373]; People v. London (1988) 206 Cal.App.3d 896, 902-906 [254 Cal.Rptr. 59]; People v. Cowger (1988) 202 Cal.App.3d 1066, 1076-1077 [249 Cal.Rptr. 240].) If there is evidence identifying the person who fled as the defendant, and if such evidence “is relied upon as tending to show guilt,” then it is proper to instruct on flight. (§ 1127c.) “The jury must know that it is entitled to infer consciousness of guilt from flight and that flight, alone, is not sufficient to establish guilt. ([] § 1127c.) The jury’s need to know these things does not change just because identity is also an issue. Instead, such a case [only] requires the jury to proceed logically by deciding first whether the [person who fled] was the defendant and then, if the answer is affirmative, how much weight to accord to flight in resolving the other issues bearing on guilt. The jury needs the instruction for the second step.” (People v. London, supra, 206 Cal.App.3d at p. 903.) In this case, there was evidence that defendant fled from Alameda County sheriff’s deputies. Moreover, as we have already discussed, defendant’s flight rationally supported an inference that he was conscious of guilt. For these reasons, it was proper to instruct on flight. 2. Admission of Knotted Cords The trial court admitted into evidence four lengths of cotton cord found in defendant’s hotel room at the time of his arrest. A half-hitch, or loop, was tied into the end of each cord. Counsel objected on relevance grounds, without elaboration. The court explained that it was admitting the evidence because it was “clear . . . that it deal[t] with strangulation, premeditation.” The record shows that the cords were rele