What is the test for determining whether death penalty skeptics constitute a cognizable class in the trial of a murder defendant?

Even viewing the issue as cross-sectional, there are serious flaws in the reasoning which would hold such a class not cognizable on the basis that the viewpoints of the death penalty skeptics are too diverse. ¹⁷ I recognize that in People v. Fields, supra, 35 Cal.3d at pages 342-350, 197 Cal.Rptr. 803, 673 P.2d 680, three members of this court held that persons who would never vote for a death sentence, but who could be fair and impartial on the issue of guilt, do not comprise a constitutionally cognizable class for purposes of the guilt phase of a capital trial. ¹⁸ Even if full credence were given to that argument, the exclusion of death penalty skeptics in the present case cannot be sustained. There is a critical difference between the two cases.