1
Filed 5/17/07
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA
THE PEOPLE,
)
)
Plaintiff and Respondent,
)
)
S054291
v.
)
)
ERIC ROYCE LEONARD,
)
)
Sacramento County
Defendant and Appellant.
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Super. Ct. No. CR111002
___________________________________ )
A jury convicted defendant Eric Royce Leonard of six counts of murder
(Pen. Code, § 187),1 and it found true two special-circumstance allegations of
robbery murder (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)) as well as one special-circumstance
allegation of multiple murder (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3)). The jury also convicted
defendant of two counts of robbery (§ 211), and it found that he had personally
used a dangerous or deadly weapon in the commission of each offense (§ 12022.5,
subd. (a)). At the penalty phase, the jury returned a verdict of death. Defendant’s
appeal to this court is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment in
its entirety.
1
Unless otherwise stated, all further statutory references are to the Penal
Code.
2
I. FACTS
A. Guilt Phase – Prosecution’s Case
At 11:30 p.m. on the night of February 12, 1991, California Highway Patrol
Officers James Young and Barry Hoover went to a Quik Stop convenience store
on Auburn Boulevard in Sacramento. Young bought a pack of gum and spoke for
a few minutes to the clerk, Zeid Obeid. At roughly the same time, Sallie Jane
Thomas drove her fiancé, Stephen Anderson, to his new job as a clerk at Quik
Stop. She saw a young White male wearing a black trench coat, black slacks, and
black shoes, walking down the street about a block from the store. Thomas
dropped Anderson off at Quik Stop and returned home.
About 15 minutes thereafter, Lester Morris arrived at Quik Stop and saw a
man lying on the pavement in the parking lot, near the front door of the store, with
blood on his stomach. Morris felt the man’s pulse, realized he was still alive, and
ran into the store seeking help. There he found tw