Does a defendant have a separate right to have a jury decide the truth of a special circumstance allegation?

A special circumstance allegation is the means by which the trier of fact determines whether a first degree murder trial will continue to a penalty phase, at which the convicted murderer's fatedeath or life imprisonment without the possibility of parolewill be decided. The federal Constitution guarantees a defendant the right to have a jury decide the truth of the special circumstance allegation. (See Ring v. Arizona (2002) 536 U.S. 584, 589, 122 S.Ct. 2428, 153 L.Ed.2d 556.) California law likewise mandates that the trial of the special circumstance allegation shall be by jury, unless the right is waived separately and personally by the defendant and the People. (Pen. Code, 190.4, subd. (a) ; all subsequent statutory references are to this code.) In this case, defendant was never advised of his separate right to have a jury decide the truth of the special circumstance allegation. Nor did he ever waive this right. Nonetheless, the trial court proceeded to resolve the special circumstance in a bench trial and, after a penalty phase, to sentence defendant to death.