RICHARD LACY LETNER and
CHRISTOPHER ALLAN TOBIN
Filed 7/29/10
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF
THE PEOPLE, )
)
Plaintiff
and Respondent, )
) S015384
v. )
)
RICHARD LACY LETNER and )
CHRISTOPHER
ALLAN TOBIN, )
) Tulare
County
Defendants
and Appellants. ) Super.
Ct. No. 26592
__________________________________ )
Story continued from part VII…..
In the wake of
of error arising from the trial court's refusal to give defense-requested jury
instructions that sought to convey to the jury that it should not consider the
possibility that some future event might prevent the fulfillment of the
sentence it imposes. One clear rule that
has emerged from the cases is that, although the trial court generally must
give an instruction when the defendant requests one, the trial court is not
required to do so on its own motion, and of course it should not give an
instruction that is incorrect. (
1275 [â€
| Description | Defendants Richard Lacy Letner and Christopher Allan Tobin were convicted of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187),[1] burglary (§ 459), robbery (§§ 211, 212.5), attempted rape (§§ 664, 261, subd. (2)), and theft of an automobile (Veh. Code, § 10851, subd. (a)), arising from the murder of Ivon Pontbriant in her home in Visalia, California on March 1, 1988. As to each defendant, the jury found true three special circumstance allegations -- that the murder was committed in the course of the burglary, attempted rape, and robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(A), (C), (G)) -- and returned a verdict of death. The trial court, having denied defendants' motions for new trial and the automatic applications to modify the verdicts (§ 190.4, subd. (e)), sentenced defendants to death and to consecutive prison terms of six years eight months for the noncapital offenses. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment as to each defendant in its entirety. |
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