Can a defendant's extrajudicial statements (made shortly before the murder), requesting money from his sister, be used to establish the corpus delicti of a crime?

Defendant contends that his extrajudicial statements (made shortly before the murder), requesting money from his sister, cannot be used to establish the corpus delicti of the alleged special circumstances. Although it is true that "the corpus delicti of felony-based special circumstances must be established independently of an accused's extrajudicial statements" (People v. Mattson (1984) 37 Cal.3d 85, 94, 207 Cal.Rptr. 278, 688 P.2d 887, fn. omitted), no such error occurred in the present case. ⁷

" 'The corpus delicti of a crime consists of two elements, the fact of the injury or loss or harm, and the existence of a criminal agency as its [4 Cal.4th 986] cause.' [Citation.] Such proof, however, may be circumstantial and need only be a slight or prima facie showing 'permitting the reasonable inference that a crime was committed.' [Citation.]" (People v. Jennings, supra, 53 Cal.3d 334, 364, 279 Cal.Rptr. 780, 807 P.2d 1009.) "[T]he quantum of evidence the People must produce in order to satisfy the corpus delicti rule is quite modest...." (Id. at p. 368, 279 Cal.Rptr. 780, 807 P.2d 1009.)

The jury in the present case was instructed correctly regarding the corpus delicti rule, and there was some evidence of each element of the special circumstances independent of defendant's statements. Specifically, the testimony of Marci Gonzales that her mother offered defendant "the money and the jewelry" is evidence tending to establish the occurrence of an attempted robbery, a reasonable inference being that the victim's offer was made in response to a demand from her assailant for money and jewelry. This is sufficient to satisfy the corpus delicti rule. (People v. Jennings, supra, 53 Cal.3d 334, 367, 279 Cal.Rptr. 780, 807 P.2d 1009.)

Penalty Phase Issues

9. Admission of Evidence of the Circumstances Underlying Defendant's 1973 Conviction of Voluntary Manslaughter

At the penalty phase of the trial, records of defendant's 1978 conviction of robbery

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