People v. Marbley

Opinion

RACANELLI, P. J.

Defendant Keith Marbley was sentenced to state prison for a term of 15 years to life after a jury convicted him of second degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187) and found he personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon (Pen. Code, § 12022, subd. (b)).

1

On appeal defendant claims reversible error under

People

v.

Wheeler

(1978) 22 Cal.3d 258 [148 Cal.Rptr. 890, 583 P.2d 748], due to the exclusion of “young people” from his jury.

Facts

Since there is no challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, the facts are recited briefly: On the night of June 15, 1982, Michael Ehrlich picked up defendant Keith Marbley outside a gay bar in San Francisco. The two men returned to Ehrlich’s condominium in San Mateo, where they drank, smoked marijuana and engaged in sexual activity. During a violent altercation some time later, Ehrlich was killed by a blow to the head with a hammer. Defendant fled the scene in Ehrlich’s car and was not apprehended until two years later.

A theory of self-defense was presented.

Discussion

Defendant contends his right to a representative jury was violated by the exclusion of young people from the jury. Defendant claims the prosecutor systematically used his peremptory challenges to dismiss five young people from the jury panel.

[47]

In

People

v.

Wheeler, supra, 22

Cal.3d at pages 276-277, the Supreme Court concluded “that the use of peremptory challenges to remove prospective jurors on the sole ground of group bias violates the right to trial by a jury drawn from a representative cross-section [szc] of the community under article I, section 16, of the California Constitution.” The group bias condemned in