Full opinion text
Opinion GEORGE, C. J. Defendant Cleophus Prince, Jr., appeals from a judgment of the San Diego County Superior Court imposing a sentence of death following his conviction of six counts of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)), five counts of burglary (§ 459), and one count of rape. (§ 261.) The jury found true one rape-murder special-circumstance allegation and one multiple-murder special-circumstance allegation. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3) & (17)(C).) The jury also found true the allegations that defendant used a knife in committing each of the murders. (§ 12022, subd. (b).) Defendant also was convicted of six attempted burglaries (§§ 459, 664) and nine completed burglaries of homes belonging to persons other than the murder victims (§ 459), and perjury. (§ 119.) The jury fixed the punishment at death. The court imposed a judgment of death and also sentenced defendant for the noncapital convictions. Defendant’s appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment in its entirety. I. FACTS A. Guilt Phase Evidence 1. The prosecution’s case We first provide an overview of the evidence. Defendant and his girlfriend Charla Lewis moved into an apartment in the Buena Vista Gardens apartment complex in the Clairemont area of San Diego in December 1989. Defendant was employed by Expo Builders Supplies beginning on January 10, 1990, usually working from 3:00 p.m. until midnight. Later in the year he was employed at Nacomm Communications. Tiffany Schultz was murdered on January 12, 1990; Janene Weinhold was murdered on February 16, 1990, and Holly Tarr was murdered on April 3, 1990. All three victims were young, attractive White women who resided in or near the Buena Vista Gardens apartment complex. A resident of that apartment complex testified that in the interval between the Weinhold and Tarr murders, a man she identified as defendant followed her home and stared at her. The murders were similar to each other in many respects; circumstantial evidence tied defendant to the crimes; DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and other evidence connected defendant to the Weinhold murder, and Tarr’s opal ring was found in Charla Lewis’s possession. In late April 1990, defendant twice attempted to enter apartments belonging to two young women at the Torrey Pines Village apartment complex. In early May 1990 he followed a woman from the beach to the La Jolla Shores beach house she was visiting and tried to force his way into the house, but was foiled when the woman pushed him over and fled. On May 20, 1990, Elissa Keller was murdered in her apartment on Trojan Avenue in San Diego. The apartment was close to defendant’s new residence at the Top of the Hill apartment complex. The murder was similar to the earlier murders; certain circumstantial evidence implicated defendant; he was seen wearing Keller’s ring; and various incriminating statements also tied him to the crime. There was evidence that on August 2, 1990, defendant committed another burglary of an apartment located in the Top of the Hill apartment complex. The apartment was occupied by three young women. There was evidence establishing that defendant, at a local Thomas Cook Foreign Exchange office, exchanged the Italian lire that were stolen in this burglary. On September 13, 1990, Pamela Clark and her daughter Amber Clark were murdered in their home in the University City area of San Diego. The murder was similar to the other murders; defendant made incriminating statements; and he was seen wearing Pamela’s wedding ring. A series of burglaries and attempted burglaries in various areas of San Diego was committed between October 1990 and February 1991. Incriminating statements, possession of proceeds of the burglaries, positive identifications of defendant and his automobile, and other evidence tied defendant to the crimes, many of which involved his following young women from a Family Fitness Center on Miramar Drive in San Diego to the women’s homes and attempting to enter the women’s residences while the occupants showered or prepared to shower. The defense was mistaken identification and alibi. A more detailed account of the evidence adduced at trial follows. Count 1—the murder of Tiffany Schultz On January 12, 1990, Tiffany Schultz, a White woman who was 21 years of age, was seen sunbathing in the doorway of her second-floor Canyon Ridge apartment about 10:00 a.m. The Canyon Ridge complex was located across the street from the Buena Vista Gardens apartment complex and shared a recreation center, which Schultz’s apartment overlooked. Schultz spoke to a friend on the telephone from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m., but telephone calls placed to her near noon or 12:30 p.m. went unanswered. Dorothy Curtiss, the manager of the Canyon Ridge apartment complex, was relatively certain that a stranger who approached her in front of her office at approximately 10:30 a.m. on January 12, 1990, was defendant. The stranger requested a hanger so he could unlock his automobile, indicating that the vehicle was parked on the street. When the manager supplied the hanger, the stranger, to her surprise and concern, walked toward the apartments rather than the street. Curtiss testified her office abutted the stairs that led to Schultz’s apartment, and she had seen Schultz sunbathing, clad only in her bikini, within approximately half an hour of encountering defendant. Persons occupying the apartment located below Schultz’s reported to the police that when they arrived at the apartment between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on January 12, 1990, they heard loud sounds coming from Schultz’s apartment. The noise sounded as if someone was being beaten. They also heard running water. Schultz’s roommate discovered her body in one of the bedrooms in the apartment. It appeared there had been a struggle. Schultz was clad only in bikini briefs. She lay on her back, her left leg extended under the bed, while her right leg lay at a 60- to 70-degree angle. One leg was smeared with blood, and there was blood on her crotch. There were at least 47 stab wounds, with a cluster of 20 stab wounds in the right breast and chest area. The wounds were deep, some extending through to the back. There was another cluster of stab wounds in the left area of the chest, also deep, some passing all the way through the body. There were wounds on the neck and upper-right thigh as well as defensive wounds. Her mouth was bruised, and her face had suffered blunt trauma. She would have been motionless when the fatal knife wounds were inflicted. The bathtub was wet, and there was a damp towel nearby. There was no evidence of a sexual assault. There also was no sign of forced entry. The interior and exterior doorknobs of the door leading to the room where Schultz’s body was discovered bore bloody marks in a honeycomb or crosshatch pattern. It appeared that the assailant had departed by way of the patio, dropping from the second floor balcony to the ground. Schultz’s live-in boyfriend was arrested for the murder but was released after a few days. Counts 2, 3, and 4—the murder and rape of Janene Weinhold and the burglary of her residence Janene Weinhold, a White woman who was 21 years of age, shared a second-story apartment in the Buena Vista Gardens apartment complex with a roommate. Both were students at the University of California, San Diego. Weinhold drove her roommate to work at 9:00 a.m. on February 16, 1990, telling her she planned to return home to do laundry and homework. Weinhold was to return to pick up her roommate at 2:00 p.m., but failed to do so, an uncharacteristic omission. Marsha Nelson occupied an apartment below Weinhold’s. Nelson testified that between 11:30 a.m. and noon on February 16, 1990, she observed defendant sitting on the stairs leading to Weinhold’s second-story apartment. He appeared sad. She observed him over a period of 15 minutes. Subsequently she heard her dog barking, then heard loud sounds coming from Weinhold’s apartment. When Nelson was summoned to a live lineup in June 1991, she identified defendant on a card but then crossed out this identification, explaining to the police that the incident had occurred too long ago for her to make an identification. At trial, she testified that she crossed out her identification because she did not want to become involved. On February 16, 1990, telephone calls made to Weinhold’s apartment from 2:30 p.m. on went unanswered. Weinhold’s body was discovered when her roommate returned home that evening at approximately 8:00 p.m. The front door was locked, and there was no sign of a forced entry. A knife belonging to the occupants of the apartment was found in the sink, displaying a bent tip and blood. Weinhold’s body was discovered in her bedroom, one leg up against the bedroom door and the other leg spread. A blouse, trousers, and underpants were nearby, the trousers and underwear inside out as if just taken off. The body was clad only in a bra. There were at least 22 stab wounds, all in the upper chest area, with eight clustered in a pattern in the upper-right breast. Most were deep, and some had penetrated the breastbone and ribs, a circumstance that might cause a knife to bend. The wounds had been administered with great force. Some of the wounds were defensive in nature. There was a bloodstain in a honeycomb or crosshatch pattern on a doorjamb. Seminal fluid in Weinhold’s vagina was tested, and a genotype match with defendant’s blood sample was established to the degree that an expert testified that the match would occur in approximately 7 to 8 percent of the general population (and a lower percentage of the White population). Seminal fluid also was discovered on a jogging suit, a bedspread, and the carpet next to the body. Enzyme testing of the seminal fluid found on the carpet established that defendant, who is African-American, was within the 19 to 21 percent of that population that could have deposited the fluid. Further DNA testing of the jogging suit and bedspread disclosed a match with defendant’s blood sample, a match that would occur in approximately one in 120,000 persons. A number of statements also linked defendant to the murder of Weinhold. In April 1990, defendant told his friends Robin and Robert Romo that he had gone on a date with a woman, and that when they arrived home he forced himself on her. Defendant related that when he was finished, the victim was weeping, and that he went back and “did her” again. David Holden was a coworker of defendant’s at Nacomm Communications, a cable company, beginning in the autumn of 1990. Early in 1991, defendant mentioned a girl named Janene. Defendant said he worked out with her at an athletic club and went to her home for sexual encounters on one or two occasions. Holden also testified defendant commented that the police never would capture the Clairemont murderer. (This was the description commonly used for the perpetrator of the charged murders.) Raymond Huntley, a jailhouse informant with many prior convictions for serious crimes (and an escape charge pending), reported several conversations with defendant. On one occasion defendant allegedly said he “didn’t have nothing for no White bitches.” In another, defendant noted that in his job with the cable company, if he found a woman he wanted to “hit,” he could check the name on the mailbox to determine whether she lived alone. The witness assumed that “hit” meant burglarize. The two men discussed assaulting women (Huntley had been convicted of such crimes). Defendant reported that he enjoyed stalking women and once he selected one, he enjoyed playing with his victims, letting them believe they would escape, and then he would “do them.” Defendant also reported that he enjoyed watching blood drip from a knife onto the victim’s pubic area. The Cotalessa-Ritchie incident Anna Cotalessa-Ritchie, a young White woman, testified that on March 25, 1990, during the noon hour, she walked from her second-story apartment in the Buena Vista Gardens apartment complex to a local store. She observed defendant at a bus stop on her way to the store, but he was not there when she returned. As she neared her apartment building, she saw defendant coming toward her. He stared at her as they crossed paths. She was at the door of her apartment, trying to insert the key into the lock, when she observed defendant at the bottom of the stairs. Again, he was staring at her. He bent as if to tie his shoes, although they were tied already. She entered her apartment and locked the door. After defendant’s arrest, Cotalessa-Ritchie positively identified defendant at a video lineup as the person who had followed her. She also identified him at trial. Prior to her participation in the lineup, she once had seen defendant’s image briefly on television. Counts 5 and 6—the murder of Holly Tarr and the burglary of her residence Holly Tarr, who was 18 years of age and White, was a resident of Michigan. In April 1990, she visited her brother Richard at the Buena Vista Gardens apartment complex during her high school spring break. Her friend, Tammy Ho, accompanied her. On April 3, 1990, the two girls played tennis and then entered the pool area of the complex at 11:00 a.m. Ho observed a well-built African-American man working out in the adjacent athletic area. Approximately five or 10 minutes before noon, Tarr returned to the apartment alone, intending to shower. Ten minutes later, Ho approached the apartment and thought she heard a scream. To Ho’s surprise, the door of the apartment was locked. Ho heard the telephone ring, but no one answered it. She knocked repeatedly and called out Tarr’s name. A neighbor had called the apartment complex maintenance crew, and approximately 10 minutes later a maintenance worker, Richard Williams, arrived. The door was chained shut, and he had to break the chain to enter. Ho ran into the apartment and saw a man emerge from a bedroom and run toward her, his face covered with a white cloth. He held a long knife up to his ear. The man wore a red T-shirt and had dark skin. Ho fell onto a couch as he ran past her through the front door. Ho then discovered Tarr gasping for breath. Tarr’s opal ring was gone. The log for the day at the apartment complex weight room showed, in order of arrival, Richard Tarr, Holly Tarr, Tammy Ho, and C. Prince. Between noon and 1:00 p.m. on April 3, 1990, a bystander heard screaming coming from the direction of the Tarr apartment. When the witness looked in the direction of the scream, he saw an African-American man wearing a red shirt and black pants and running full speed across the alley, not far from the Tarr apartment. The witness observed the man disappear among the buildings. While in pursuit, the witness encountered another maintenance worker, Juan Rivera Rojas, who described the direction of the man’s flight. Rojas testified at trial that he saw an African-American man run by who was approximately 28 to 30 years of age, about five feet six inches tall, and wearing a red shirt and black pants. Rojas picked out defendant in a video lineup conducted in July 1991, but testified at trial that he had not seen the man’s face and could not identify him. Tarr’s body lay on the floor of one of the bedrooms in the apartment, her legs spread approximately 45 degrees. She wore a bra and underpants, and a towel was on her chest. There was no sign of forced entry (other than the chain broken by the maintenance worker). Blood was on the stairwell leading to the apartment and in numerous places in the apartment. A shoe print at the threshold matched the size and design of defendant’s Nike Air Jordan athletic shoes. An impression of a knife, in blood, was observed on the apartment doorjamb. A bloody knife and a T-shirt were found near the sidewalk and the parking area; the blood was identified as Tarr’s, and the knife was from the Tarr apartment. Tarr died of a single stab wound, seven inches deep, that penetrated her heart. There was blood on her bra and on her underwear in the pubic area. On the day of the Tarr murder, defendant’s acquaintances, Robert Romo and Timothy Buckingham, observed defendant, wearing a red T-shirt, driving his automobile in an alley within the Buena Vista Gardens apartment complex between noon and 1:00 p.m. Defendant wore something white on his head. When Romo entered his own apartment in the Buena Vista Gardens complex, he learned from his wife, Robin Romo, that another murder had occurred. Robert shortly thereafter observed defendant drive by again. Robert had seen defendant wear a red T-shirt prior to, but never subsequent to, the Tarr murder. When interviewed the day after the murder, defendant informed the police that he had been at the pool the prior day until noon, when he returned to his apartment and remained there until his departure for work at 1:50 p.m. He declined the police’s request to go to the station for fingerprinting. A few days after the Tarr murder, Robin Romo mentioned to defendant that there had been another murder. Defendant responded: “Yes I remember. I was at the pool. I saw her leaving.” When the police searched the home of defendant’s girlfriend, Charla Lewis, they discovered Tarr’s opal ring. The ring was one of 63 that had been manufactured, none of them having been distributed for sale further west than Michigan or Wisconsin. Lewis testified that defendant gave her the ring in December 1990. Counts 7 and 8—the attempted burglary of the residence shared by Stephanie Squires and Sarah Canfield On April 25, 1990, Stephanie Squires observed defendant follow her to the pool in her apartment complex, the Torrey Pines Village apartments. She recognized him, perhaps from her recent prior residence at the Buena Vista Gardens apartment complex. Squires left the pool area around noon and returned to her apartment to shower. A neighbor witnessed an African-American man walk up the stairs toward Squires’s apartment. The neighbor telephoned the apartment manager, Jean Smith. Smith testified that the neighbor told her that she saw the man climb the stairs and try the door handle. At trial, the neighbor testified that she merely had seen the man ascend the stairs and then sit down. She testified she did not wish to be involved. On April 28, 1990, Squires’s roommate, Sarah Canfield, attired in her bathing suit, was in the apartment they shared. Between 3:00 and 3:30 in the afternoon, she heard a knock at the door and could see the door handle moving. She looked out, saw defendant standing at the door, and telephoned the apartment manager and the police. At the time of the video lineup in July 1991, she was almost positive the man was defendant, and at trial she was certain of her identification. At approximately 3:30 p.m. on the same day, April 28, 1990, Jean Smith saw an unfamiliar African-American man walk past her office. She asked her husband Glen to follow the man. Glen Smith testified he observed an African-American man driving an old, dirty or gray, two-door Chevrolet or Oldsmobile exit from the apartment complex parking lot. The vehicle was noisy, as if it had a defective muffler. A few days later, Glen saw the same vehicle driven by the same man in the same parking lot. Glen relayed the license number to the police, who found that the vehicle was registered to defendant. Glen identified a photograph of defendant’s automobile as the vehicle he had seen on both occasions. Count 9—the burglary of Leslie Hughes-Webb’s temporary residence On May 2, 1990, between 1:30 p.m. and approximately 2:50 p.m., Leslie Hughes-Webb, a young White woman, was sunbathing on the beach near the La Jolla Shores beach house she was visiting. After she walked back to the house, she climbed the stairs to the back door and found defendant standing in front of the door. She asked his business, and replying that he had rented the home in the past, he walked away. Hughes-Webb entered the house and saw through the glass door that defendant was returning. She attempted to secure the door, but defendant forced it open. He attacked Hughes-Webb, covering her mouth and subsequently grabbing her face and shoulders, and they struggled until she was able to push him over into a nightstand. She fled screaming, and he followed her outside and down two steps, then turned, and ran out the gate. He was due at work at 3:00 p.m., but arrived 15 minutes late that day. At a lineup and at trial, Hughes-Webb identified defendant as her attacker. Counts 10 and 11—the murder of Elissa Keller and the burglary of her residence Elissa Keller, 38 years of age and White, lived with her 18-year-old daughter. Her home was close to defendant’s new residence at the Top of the Hill apartment complex, where he had moved in early May 1990. Late in the evening of May 20, 1990, Keller spoke on the telephone to her daughter, who was away for the weekend. On May 21, 1990, Keller failed to appear at her place of employment at 9:00 a.m., which was unusual. She did not appear at work later that day or answer the telephone. Keller’s daughter arrived at their home at approximately 11:30 p.m. on May 21, 1990. The deadbolt on the front door was not locked, which was unusual, and the chain was off the hook. She went to her bedroom, where she discovered her mother’s body lying on the floor with a blanket covering her torso. Keller lay on the carpet with her legs out and slightly separated. She wore only a tank top, and her bloody underwear lay inside out and close to the body. There were nine tightly clustered, deep stab wounds in her chest, along with some defensive wounds. There was blood smeared on her arms and legs. It appeared that she may have been punched in the face and choked. According to the physician who examined her body at approximately 3:00 a.m. on May 22, 1990, Keller had been dead between six and 12 hours, and possibly longer. The perpetrator’s point of entry apparently was a partially open window. Shoe prints on the sill and on a nearby stereo could have been made by defendant’s Nike Air Jordan athletic shoes, and were similar to those found at the scene of Tarr’s murder. A criminalist testified that gloves such as the ones used by defendant at his place of employment between January and August 1990, and found in the trunk of his vehicle, left the bloody marks found on the bathroom counter. The gloves bore a distinctive honeycomb or crosshatch pattern. A pair of such gloves also was discovered in the closet of defendant’s girlfriend, Charla Lewis. Keller’s gold nugget ring was missing, and defendant subsequently was seen wearing it. The ring later was stolen from defendant but ultimately was traced to him during the murder investigation. Michael Bari was acquainted with defendant when both men resided at the Top of the Hill apartments. Defendant possessed a large quantity of jewelry and told Bari he had obtained it “off the girls he had slept with. They would not be needing them anymore.” Defendant demonstrated for Bari how to break into an apartment by using a Blockbuster video store card, remarking that “as long as it doesn’t have a deadbolt, I can get into the apartment.” Another occupant of the Top of the Hill apartments during the period defendant resided there, John Rollins, also was acquainted with defendant. Rollins brought up the subject of Keller’s murder and heard defendant claim responsibility for that murder, but the remark was made in the course of preparing for a party, and everyone present interpreted it as a joke. Count 12—the burglary of the residence occupied by Anna McComber, Maria Saatin, and Nadia Gatti Anna McComber resided in the Top of the Hill apartment complex, as did defendant. Two friends from Italy, Maria Saatin and Nadia Gatti, were visiting her. On August 2, 1990, the three young women sunbathed by the apartment complex pool, went shopping, and sunbathed again. When they returned to the apartment, they discovered that a large amount of cash in $50 and $100 bills had been stolen, along with some Italian lire belonging to the Italian visitors. On August 3, 1990, a person who identified himself as Cleophus Prince exchanged 94,000 Italian lire for $74.73 at the San Diego Thomas Cook Foreign Exchange office. Defendant also deposited $1,100 in two $50 and ten $100 bills into his bank account. The cash deposit was far greater than any he previously had made in the five months he had had the account. Counts 13, 14, and 15—the murders of Amber and Pamela Clark and the burglary of their residence On July 17, 1990, defendant’s girlfriend Charla Lewis joined the Family Fitness Center on Miramar Road. She listed defendant as a member. The membership was cancelled 10 days later. At approximately 8:00 a.m. on September 13, 1990, Pamela Clark left her home in the University City area of San Diego en route to the Family Fitness Center on Miramar Road. She was wearing a “full body glove” and a bathing suit. She was White, 42 years of age, and very fit. Her husband left their home at approximately 8:30 a.m. Their 18-year-old daughter Amber, who was still asleep, was a member of the same fitness center. At approximately 10:00 a.m., neighbors heard Amber speaking or arguing with someone inside the house. One neighbor heard Amber call out as if afraid and also heard a male voice, but the neighbor believed nothing serious was occurring. This witness believed Pamela Clark’s automobile had left the residence earlier in the morning but had returned by 11:00 a.m. Pamela, who was a massage therapist, did not appear at work for her 11:00 a.m. appointment, an unusual occurrence. No one answered the telephone at the Clarks’ home. A colleague of Pamela Clark’s discovered her body in the entry way of the home. Pamela was nude, lying on her back with her arms spread at 90 degrees to her body with her legs together. She had suffered 11 deep, clustered stab wounds to the upper left chest in an area measuring four and one-half by three and one-half inches. There was evidence indicating she had been dragged to that location. A knife that could have inflicted the wounds lay near her head. Amber Clark’s body lay on the floor, partly in a hallway and partly in a bedroom. She was clothed, but her garments had been pulled down to expose her breasts. Her legs were spread somewhat apart. Like her mother, she had suffered 11 deep, closely clustered stab wounds to her upper chest in an area measuring three by three and one-quarter inches. Blood was smeared on her body. A knife blade lay on the floor in the bathroom. Pamela Clark’s purse was found on her bed but, uncharacteristically, contained no money. Her wedding ring was missing. Possible points of entry included a partially open dining room window from which a screen had been removed, and a living room sliding glass door. The door handle bore marks of silica and other material consistent with the gypsum that defendant used in his employment. Shoe prints outside led back and forth under the dining room window. Defendant’s Eastland-brand shoes matched shoe prints found under the window and in the dining room. Defendant had called in sick to his employer on the day of the Clark murders. Two persons who resided with defendant subsequent to these murders testified that he had been in possession of Pamela Clark’s wedding ring. Ernest Tu’ua, a coworker of defendant’s, testified that defendant told him during the summer of 1990 that he was dating a massage therapist and that he was “doing the massage therapist and her daughter,” a comment that Tu’ua took to refer to sexual relations. Defendant commented that the massage therapist was an older White woman with a good body. In September 1990, having changed jobs, defendant was working at Nacomm Communications. He installed underground cable. He commented to his foreman that he was “going to do a mother and a daughter,” a comment the foreman took to refer to sexual relations. Defendant offered to sell jewelry to the foreman. Another co worker reported that in September 1990, defendant said he was dating a woman and her daughter, adding that the mother, aged 40, had a youthful appearance and the daughter, aged 17 or 18, was attractive. Defendant offered to sell the witness jewelry. September 1990—defendant and his cohorts In the autumn of 1990, defendant resided at the Top of the Hill apartment complex with Shirley Beasley (a male) and Shirley’s younger brother Moheshea (Charla Lewis having moved out). According to Moheshea, Shirley told him that defendant and Shirley, in the course of burglarizing the apartment of an older couple who resided at the Top of the Hill complex, had stolen some beer. Defendant told Moheshea he could break into apartments at the nearby Trojan apartment building, because the doors lacked deadbolts. Defendant committed three burglaries with Moheshea, who was 16 years of age at the time. In committing these burglaries, defendant put socks on his hands as he approached the front door of the targeted home and then opened the door using a plastic card. Defendant told Moheshea that he knew of a residence containing jewelry and a safe, and proposed to burglarize it. Defendant stated that he had been inside the home while the female occupant slept, and that if she had awakened, he would have cut her throat. Defendant proposed to return to burglarize this residence. Moheshea testified that he and defendant thereafter broke into a Top of the Hill apartment and stole foreign currency. Defendant also told Moheshea that he surveilled the homes of women he had met at gyms. Count 16—the burglary of Michelle Tait’s residence Michelle Tait resided at the Collwood Pines apartments. On October 6, 1990, she sunbathed at the apartment pool beginning in the late morning. She returned to her apartment briefly around 2:00 p.m., finding nothing amiss. When she returned at 3:00 p.m., however, she found that her television and videocassette recorder (VCR) had been stolen. Tait had had an encounter with defendant during the month preceding the burglary. She was walking up the stairs to her apartment when defendant asked repeatedly whether he could help her carry her groceries. He was pushy and aggressive. They made eye contact for almost a minute. He stared her down on that occasion, and also at the preliminary examination. Shirley Beasley testified that while he resided with defendant at the Top of the Hill apartment complex, they burglarized an apartment at the Collwood Pines apartment complex. Defendant asked Beasley whether he wanted a television and a VCR. Pointing to a woman lying by the Collwood Pines apartment complex’s pool, defendant stated it was her apartment they would burglarize. Defendant put socks on his hands and entered the apartment door using a credit card. Defendant went to the kitchen and took a knife, stating that if the occupant returned, Beasley should move out of the way and defendant would “handle it.” They took the television and the VCR. Both were sold or given away but were traced to defendant. Defendant told Beasley he had been watching a home he knew contained a safe, intending to burglarize it. Defendant also told Beasley he had stolen foreign currency during a burglary and knew where to exchange it. Beasley testified that defendant kept a large quantity of women’s jewelry in the apartment they shared. Count 17—the burglary of Michael Gromme’s residence Michael Gromme resided in the Top of the Hill apartment complex and was acquainted with defendant. Gromme complained about the noisy muffler on defendant’s automobile. On October 15, 1990, when Gromme returned from work at approximately 5:00 p.m., he found that all of his liquor and $100 in cash had been stolen from his apartment. He discussed the burglary with defendant and defendant’s roommate shortly after discovering the loss. Defendant’s roommate commiserated, claiming that he and defendant had suffered a recent burglary. Gromme’s apartment was located one floor above defendant’s. Shirley Beasley testified that he and defendant burglarized the home of an older couple who lived in the Top of the Hill apartment complex and stole all of their liquor to have it for a party. Defendant suggested committing the burglary, noting that the apartment was “right upstairs” from his apartment. During the burglary, defendant took a knife from the kitchen and walked around the apartment. Beasley testified that shortly after the burglary he and defendant commiserated with the occupants of the burglarized apartment, falsely claiming to have suffered a recent burglary themselves. Count 18—the burglary of Bruno Gherardi’s residence On November 18, 1990, Bruno Gherardi’s home in Encinitas was burglarized. The screen of his open bedroom window had been cut, and the sliding door to his bedroom was open. His camcorder and its accessory bag were missing, along with a knife from a butcher block in the kitchen. The camcorder was traced to defendant. Count 19—the attempted burglary of Patricia Van’s residence On December 19, 1990, Patricia Van returned to her home from the Miramar Road Family Fitness Center about 9:30 a.m. Approximately 20 minutes later, she heard a soft knocking at the door and saw a man she identified at trial as defendant standing there. She opened the door, and defendant asked for a person named Terry, but no one by that name resided there. Her neighbor, Earline Schooner, stood behind defendant, and when she challenged him brusquely, he walked away. Schooner earlier had seen defendant examining nearby backyards. After 10 minutes, she saw him enter a side yard and approach Van’s front door. Schooner, having seen defendant exit from a vehicle, provided the police with the vehicle license number. The automobile was registered to defendant, and he was stopped by the police at 2:30 p.m. on the same day while driving away from the Family Fitness Center on Miramar Road. The vehicle was a gray Chevrolet Cavalier. The police cited defendant for his loud muffler. Count 20—the burglary of Melinda Pinkerton’s residence At approximately 11:00 a.m. on January 8, 1991, Lynn Shudarek returned home from her workout at the Family Fitness Center on Miramar Road. She heard someone knocking at the front door and then heard dogs barking. She saw the doorknob moving. She held the doorknob and looked out, observing an African-American man who continued for a moment to try to open the door. He departed and went toward Melinda Pinkerton’s residence, two doors away. When Pinkerton returned home at approximately 2:30 p.m. the same day, the kitchen cabinets had been pulled open and a butcher knife had been placed on the kitchen counter. The sliding door leading to her backyard was open. Her camera was missing, and her lingerie had been moved. Six rings and a gold chain were missing. Defendant pawned two of Pinkerton’s rings that same afternoon, using the name Rodney Higgs. After defendant’s arrest, when his automobile was searched, the police found Pinkerton’s camera and a wallet containing identification belonging to Rodney Higgs. Count 21—perjury Defendant used false identification and signed a false name when he pawned Melinda Pinkerton’s property. Count 22—the attempted burglary of Karyl Oldenburg’s residence Karyl Oldenburg returned home from her workout at the Miramar Road Family Fitness Center at approximately 11:30 a.m. on January 22, 1991. Once inside her home, she heard the doorknob on the front door jiggling. Through the peephole she witnessed defendant standing with something in his hands, not knocking or ringing the doorbell. As she went to telephone her husband, she observed defendant approaching the back door. She proceeded to the garage and drove away. When a few months later she saw defendant’s photograph in the newspaper, she telephoned the police to report the incident. She identified defendant at a video lineup and at trial. Count 23—the burglary of Patricia Van’s residence Approximately one month after the attempted burglary of the Van residence (count 19), Patricia Van’s home was burglarized. On January 21, 1991, Van’s husband discovered that the sliding door to the patio had been damaged with a tool of some kind. On January 23, 1991, at approximately 9:20 a.m., Van returned from her usual class at the Miramar Road Family Fitness Center. Once inside her home, she discovered that the patio door was open; a window screen was propped up in the kitchen, and the kitchen window was broken. The residence had been ransacked. A butcher knife had been placed on the kitchen counter. Jewelry had been stolen, and that same afternoon defendant drove his acquaintance Mary Ann Knight to a pawnshop where she pawned an earring similar to one stolen from Van. Count 24—the attempted burglary of Angela and Renata Yates’s residence On January 24, 1991, an African-American man driving a gray vehicle with a loud muffler followed Angela Yates, then 19 years of age, as she drove home from the Miramar Road Family Fitness Center. She became aware that she was being followed, and attempted to evade her pursuer. She arrived home, and while she showered, her mother, Renata, observed a shadow moving in the backyard. Upon inspecting, Renata discovered defendant, whom she later positively identified. When he moved toward a sliding door, Renata screamed to her daughter to call the police and to “grab the gun.” Their dog ran outside, and defendant ran away. Neighbors witnessed an African-American man jump over the Yates’s fence and run to his vehicle. He appeared agitated as he attempted to enter the vehicle, and drove off rapidly. The muffler of the vehicle was noisy. Count 25—the burglary of Louis Depamphillis’s residence Louis Depamphillis returned to his home on Nobel Drive close to midnight on February 1, 1991. He had left his screened front window ajar. When he returned, the screen had been removed. His camera bag and jewelry boxes had been moved. When he went to a friend’s apartment to telephone the police, he noticed an African-American man driving away in an older model bluish-gray vehicle with a loud muffler, possibly matching the photograph of defendant’s automobile. When the police responded to Depamphillis’s call, they noticed an adjacent apartment had an open front window from which the screen had been removed. Police left a note for the occupant stating the apartment had been burglarized. When he eventually was arrested, defendant was wearing a ring that had been stolen from Depamphillis’s residence during the burglary. Count 26—the burglary of Judy Kinney’s residence On February 3, 1991, after a two-day absence, Judy Kinney returned to her apartment on Nobel Drive not far from the Miramar Road Family Fitness Center, where she was a member. The screen to a front window had been removed, and the apartment had been ransacked. Her jewelry and lingerie drawers were open, and lingerie was draped on the drawers. Her emerald ring and a gold chain had been stolen. Defendant gave Kinney’s emerald ring to Brittan Lewis and the gold chain to Charla Lewis. Kinney believed she had been followed home from the Family Fitness Center on Miramar Road approximately one month prior to the burglary. Count 27—the attempted burglary of Geralyn Peters Venvertloh’s residence On the morning of February 3, 1991, Geralyn Peters Venvertloh returned home to her Scripps Ranch apartment from her usual morning workout at the Family Fitness Center on Miramar Road. She undressed for a shower, then heard the knob on the front door rattling. She looked out and saw an African-American man leaning against the door with his hands in the area of the doorknob. She dressed and exited from her apartment through a sliding glass door and proceeded to the back of the apartment complex. She screamed for help. Her neighbor, Jeffrey Pich, responded. When Venvertloh and Pich walked to the front of her apartment, they observed the man still standing at the door, bent over and working at the door with some object. He wore gloves. When challenged, the man claimed he was looking for his fiancée or a female friend whom he claimed to have seen entering Venvertloh’s home. He walked away calling out a woman’s name. Pich walked down the street looking for the would-be intruder and soon observed the man in question driving away in a noisy vehicle at a high rate of speed. Geralyn Peters Venvertloh’s then flaneé, Mark Venvertloh, arrived home and also witnessed an African-American man enter an older silver-colored vehicle and drive away noisily at a high rate of speed. Having examined the intruder closely on that occasion, Pich identified defendant as the man he had seen on the front step of his neighbor’s residence. The next day, Geralyn Venvertloh, who was employed at the same location as Charla Lewis, witnessed a man drop off Lewis at work. The man resembled defendant and drove an older model vehicle that had a loud muffler. Pich identified defendant in a photo lineup that same day. One month later Pich identified a photograph of defendant’s automobile, and later confirmed that the vehicle sounded like the one he had witnessed when defendant fled from Venvertloh’s apartment. A police officer took statements from Geralyn Peters Venvertloh, Pich, and Mark Venvertloh, and proceeded to the Family Fitness Center on Miramar Road with a description of the vehicle and the suspect. The officer asked fitness center employees to inform the police in the event they witnessed either the man or the vehicle in the vicinity of the establishment. The next morning, February 4, 1991, the fitness center’s front desk manager informed the police that she had observed a silver-colored automobile with a loud muffler driven by an African-American man proceed through the fitness center’s parking lot, returning 15 minutes later. The employee observed the vehicle parked 30 feet from her office window and watched as the driver moved to the passenger side of the vehicle and slumped down. She was able to observe part of the vehicle license number, which she relayed to the police. Law enforcement officers arrived 15 minutes later and confronted defendant, the occupant of the vehicle. Defendant informed the officers that he was waiting for his girlfriend, Cindy. A person named Cindy was present at the fitness center at the time, and although she was acquainted with defendant, she was not his girlfriend and had no plan to meet him that day. The officers placed defendant under arrest. A search of defendant’s vehicle uncovered a pair of black leather gloves in the center console and a pair of wool gloves on the driver’s seat. Under the driver’s seat was a knife with an eight-inch blade and a five-inch handle. On the right front floorboard was a folding knife with a two-and-one-half-inch blade and a four-inch handle. Under the front seat were a steak knife and a small folding pocket knife. Other employees of the fitness center had observed defendant’s vehicle in the center’s parking lot on multiple occasions. They had seen a person who may have been defendant seated in the vehicle, slumped in the passenger seat. Defendant was questioned and released after providing the police with a blood sample. Subsequently, on February 23, 1991, an undercover police officer witnessed defendant drive into the Miramar Road Family Fitness Center parking lot and, slowing as he observed a marked police vehicle parked in the lot, exit the center’s parking lot and drive away at a high rate of speed. The muffler of his vehicle made a loud sound. Defendant was arrested on March 1, 1991, in Birmingham, Alabama. As discussed at greater length post, FBI Special Agent Larry Ankrom testified that the six murders bore common marks that led him to believe they all were committed by the same person. 2. The defense case Two police officers testified that defendant’s automobile would not start without manual manipulation under the hood, and would function only if a metal object such as a screwdriver were placed under the hood to make an electrical connection. Officers observed defendant start the vehicle in this manner while they had him under surveillance. Defendant produced evidence indicating that jewelry traced to the burglaries of the Depamphillis and Kinney residences and the murder of Keller was not custom-made but was available commercially. Charla Lewis testified that during the time she resided with defendant, he never arrived home in an agitated state or stained by blood. Defendant introduced evidence establishing that many companies other than his employer distributed to their employees gloves with the distinctive honeycomb or crosshatch pattern that may have been used during the murders. Statements of various prosecution witnesses were impeached. Marsha Nelson, who was a neighbor of murder victim lanene Weinhold and observed defendant seated on the steps leading to Weinhold’s apartment on the day of the murder, had told a police interviewer immediately after the crime was discovered that the man she saw on the steps had his head in his hands the entire time she looked at him and that she was unable to see his face. Nelson had circled defendant’s number at the live lineup, then crossed it out, explaining that too much time had elapsed since the crime. Karyl Oldenburg (count 22) told the police at the time of the attempted burglary of her home that she might not be able to identify the perpetrator in a lineup. Oldenburg’s identification of defendant was made after she had seen his picture in the newspaper, and although she identified defendant in a video lineup and at trial, she testified that unlike defendant, the man she saw at her front door did not have facial hair. Dorothy Curtiss, the apartment manager of the complex where Schultz was murdered, failed to make an identification at the live lineup even though she identified defendant at trial. Rodney Dunn, a maintenance worker at the apartment complex, cast doubt on Curtiss’s testimony that it was defendant who approached her seeking assistance on the day of Schultz’s murder. On the day Schultz was murdered, Dunn, who was familiar with defendant’s appearance, was approached before noon by an African-American man who was not defendant. The man asked for a screwdriver because he had locked himself out of his car. The witness assisted the man in unlocking a vehicle that was not defendant’s. Richard Williams, the maintenance worker who entered murder victim Tarr’s apartment with witness Ho to render assistance, had observed the perpetrator running toward him, but described that individual as probably Hispanic and selected someone other than defendant at the lineup. A witness, Carol Dhillon, testified she had observed an encounter at the Buena Vista Gardens apartment complex similar to the incidents attributed to defendant, but the perpetrator was not defendant. On a morning in mid-March 1990, her 22-year-old daughter was taking a shower when Dhillon observed an African-American man looking up at her apartment. Ten or 15 minutes later, when she retrieved the newspaper from her front step, the man pushed open the front door and said he was looking for his cousin. Dhillon closed the door. The visitor was not defendant. She saw the visitor again approximately two hours later, sitting on or standing by a parked older model automobile. Shirley Beasley, who on direct examination had testified that he had burglarized homes with defendant and had attributed incriminating statements to defendant, was flown to San Diego, where the police department paid for his lodging while he underwent interrogation. Beasley thereafter was arrested for robbery. He was in custody but had not yet been sentenced when he testified for the prosecution at defendant’s preliminary examination. The prosecution’s investigator testified on Beasley’s behalf at his sentencing, explaining that Beasley had been of assistance in the present case. Beasley was sentenced to four years in prison, a relatively light sentence. He was given immunity from prosecution for the burglaries he committed with defendant and for any other crimes he admitted in the course of his interrogation in the present case. One of Beasley’s comments indicated he was interested in receiving the reward offered for capture of the so-called Clairemont killer. Christine Fagan testified defendant had lunch with her on May 2, 1990, until approximately 2:30 p.m. on the day Leslie Hughes-Webb was attacked. They met at a location that would have made it extremely difficult for defendant to arrive at the beach by the time of the attack. Fagan observed defendant wearing a gold nugget ring similar to the one the prosecution claimed had been stolen during the Keller murder, but Fagan’s meeting with defendant occurred prior to that murder. (Under cross-examination by the People, Fagan added that defendant had stared intently at her during their lunch and aggressively demanded that she go somewhere with him, frightening her.) Raymond Huntley, the jailhouse informant, was impeached. He had been convicted of multiple burglaries, robberies, and rapes, had escaped from a Florida prison, was facing a sentence of at least 20 years, and was a prison escapee at large in San Diego when he was arrested. He shared a cell only briefly with defendant, later being returned to Florida to complete his prison term. Approximately four months after his conversation with defendant, Huntley contacted the prosecution from Florida to offer information. In exchange for his testimony against defendant, he received various benefits, including a transfer from a Florida prison to one in California and a potential early release date. Defendant also presented the testimony of an expert in the phenomenon of eyewitness identification. She explained the many flaws in such identification and the factors undermining accuracy, including fear, the lapse of time, the reinforcement of opinion that occurs during multiple proceedings, and the effect of a threat with a weapon on the accuracy of observation. She explained that a person’s confidence in his or her identification is not indicative of the reliability of the identification. In rebuttal, the prosecution presented evidence establishing that the murders occurring at the Buena Vista Gardens apartment complex ceased after defendant moved out in the first week of May 1990. The jury found defendant guilty of the charged offenses and found true the knife-use and special circumstance allegations. B. Penalty Phase Evidence 1. The prosecution’s case The prosecution presented evidence indicating that on December 7, 1991, prior to the trial, a search of defendant’s jail cell produced a toothbrush with a razor attached—a makeshift weapon typically known as a “shank.” The object was hidden between the mattresses on defendant’s bed. The prosecution presented evidence of an additional jailhouse incident involving defendant. Deputy Samuel Sheppard testified that on November 22, 1991, when he arrived to conduct inmates from a recreation area to their cells, defendant told the deputy that he would “kick [his] sweet ass,” directing threatening gestures at the deputy while uttering these words. Defendant continued to taunt or threaten the deputy, who grabbed defendant and pushed his face against the wall. Defendant struck Sheppard in the ribs with his elbow and tried to trip him. Sheppard forced defendant to the ground. Other deputy sheriffs assisted in subduing defendant. The prosecution also presented the testimony of several family members of the murder victims. The parents of murder victims Schultz, Weinhold, and Tarr testified, as did Keller’s daughter. They described the victims and the impact of the murders upon the families. The prosecution played an approximately 25-minute videotape of a television interview with Tarr that had been prepared by a local television station in her hometown a few months prior to her murder. The program marked the accomplishments of certain successful local high school students. In the interview, Tarr described her interests and activities, as well as her plans for college and for a potential career as an actress. 2. The defense case The defense presented the testimony of various members of defendant’s family and of one of his friends. These witnesses described defendant’s childhood, the circumstance that when he was two years of age his father was convicted of murder and subsequently served 11 years in prison, and defendant’s formative years spent in a rundown, crime-ridden housing project in Alabama. Defendant was extremely short in stature as a child. These witnesses offered evidence of defendant’s good character, including his close relationship with his paternal grandmother and faithful visits to her, his visits to his father in prison, his industriousness, his protective attitude toward relatives, his compassion, and his generosity. Various relatives and a former girlfriend expressed their love for defendant and asked the jury to spare his life. A sociologist described the negative attributes of the housing project where defendant resided as a child, and offered the opinion that circumstances such as family violence, inadequate housing conditions, poor education, drug and alcohol abuse, and gang activity were harmful to a child’s development. A high school counselor described defendant’s development into a responsible person, and a pastor testified concerning defendant’s church activities. A former employee of the Department of Corrections described the prison conditions experienced by persons sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The testimony of a fellow inmate suggested that defendant had not been the instigator of the conflict with Deputy Sheppard. II. DISCUSSION A. Claims Affecting the Guilt Phase of the Trial 1. Motion for change of venue Defendant contends extensive pretrial publicity required a change of venue. He claims the trial court’s failure to grant his motions for change of venue (§ 1033, subd. (a)) constituted prejudicial error under state law and a violation of his right to due process of law and to a fair trial by an impartial jury as guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. We disagree. a. Factual background The charged offenses occurred between January 1990 and February 1991. Defendant was apprehended in March 1991. The preliminary examination commenced on February 24, 1992. Defendant filed a motion for change of venue on September 14, 1992. In support of his motion for change of venue, the defense proffered evidence of the more than 270 newspaper articles that had appeared concerning the crimes, the criminal investigation, defendant’s eventual arrest in Alabama and extradition, and the preliminary examination. There was evidence suggesting that television coverage was similar in extent, as the parties stipulated. It also was stipulated that one television station used defendant’s image in quick cuts along with the images of Robert Alton Harris and Craig Peyer, persons who had been convicted of murder in San Diego County. Defendant’s image was on the screen for “under a second and a half.” As might be expected when a series of six similar murders occurs in a community over a period of approximately one year without a culprit being quickly identified, the publicity in the present case was pervasive and occasionally potentially prejudicial—particularly during the period the crimes remained unsolved and the perpetrator remained at large. Newspaper articles recounted the growing fear among residents of the neighborhoods where the crimes occurred; articles noted the apparent connection among the crimes, and the eventual designation of the murders as “serial killings”; articles recounted the increasing police resources devoted to the investigation, which eventually was the most extensive in San Diego County history; articles recounted the disproportionate impact of the investigation upon African-American men in the affected neighborhoods, and assertedly prejudicial articles predicted another attack and compared the crimes to those committed by the notorious Jack the Ripper. Defendant also proffered articles recounting his arrest in Alabama and the relief that ensued among residents of San Diego, especially in neighborhoods in which the murders had occurred; his efforts to resist extradition from Alabama; and providing negative information concerning his family, including his father’s conviction of murder. In addition, he presented articles in which persons surmised they had experienced close brushes with defendant and might have been his next victim. News articles noted that defendant was suspected of having committed two additional unsolved murders and mentioned his Navy court-martial for theft. An article described defendant’s eviction from the Top of the Hill apartment complex for participating in a fight. The crimes were featured on the television program America’s Most Wanted. Defendant also presented evidence indicating that the news media had reported on damaging evidence that was uncovered during the investigation and also at the preliminary examination, including testimony by identification witnesses, statements to the press, and preliminary examination testimony attributing incriminating statements to defendant, lab results claiming a DNA match between samples taken from defendant and evidence found at the scene of the Weinhold murder, and the circumstance that defendant’s girlfriend possessed jewelry stolen from the victims. The defense also presented the testimony of Paul Strand, an expert who conducted a public opinion survey in February 1992, prior to the preliminary examination. According to Strand, approximately 74 percent of the 300 persons surveyed were aware of the case despite the circumstance that only two related news items had appeared during the previous six months. Of those aware of the case, Strand reported that 25 percent were predisposed to find defendant guilty. Strand conducted another survey in September 1992. Seventy-seven percent of the respondents were aware of the case and, of that group, 24 percent were predisposed to find defendant guilty. There had been a burst of publicity around the time of the preliminary examination in February and March of 1992, but very few news items appeared between April and mid-September of 1992. The trial court acknowledged that the crimes had been serious and the publicity intense. The court noted that neither the victims nor defendant had been prominent or notorious other than in connection with the charged crimes. To the extent defendant was an outsider, the court observed that San Diego is a Navy town, where many individuals might be considered outsiders. The court observed that Tarr, one of the murder victims, also was an out-of-town visitor, and commented that other victims lacked long-standing ties to the community. The court also commented that sensational news coverage concerning crime permeates our culture in general, and surmised that citizens become inured to such coverage or accord it the same weight as entertainment. The court distinguished the present case from another San Diego County prosecution, that of Robert Alton Harris (see People v. Harris (1981) 28 Cal.3d 935 [171 Cal.Rptr. 679, 623 P.2d 240]), concluding that the news coverage in the present case lacked the animosity and prejudgment that had been conveyed in press reports concerning Harris and, rather, left open the question of defendant’s guilt. Moreover, the investigation continued for a protracted period, during which two persons other than defendant were arrested, and residents appeared uncertain whether defendant actually was the culprit. Turning to the public opinion surveys, the court commented upon the size and diversity of the county’s population and upon the circumstance that the surveys demonstrated that a low percentage o