Does the trial judge have any power to strike the special circumstance?

Unlike People v. Williams, supra, the trial judge here did not express the powerless desire to strike the special circumstance. He simply expressed some sympathy and concern for the defendant.

In People v. Sanders, supra, 145 Cal.App.3d 218, 193 Cal.Rptr. 331, the court had before it this identical issue. There, as here, the trial judge had made remarks sympathetic to the defendant at the time it sentenced him to life without possibility of parole (following a jury verdict finding the defendant guilty of first degree murder and finding true an allegation of a felony-based special circumstance). In concluding that a motion to strike the special circumstance would avail the defendant nothing, and would be an abuse of discretion if granted, the court used language directly applicable here (at pp. 225-226, 193 Cal.Rptr. 331):