People v. Young
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The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions for two counts of first degree murder and other crimes but reversed Defendant's sentence of death imposed after a penalty retrial, holding that the trial court erred by permitting the prosecution to make improper use of inflammatory character evidence for purposes unrelated to any legitimate issue in the proceeding.
Defendant was convicted of two counts of first degree murder, attempted murder, and carjacking. The jury was unable to reach a verdict as to penalty, and the trial court declared a mistrial. The jury sentenced Defendant to death after a penalty retrial. The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions but reversed his sentence of death, holding (1) assuming that the trial court erred in admitting Defendant's statement "You heard it all" and admitting certain evidence of Defendant's racist tattoos, affiliations, and beliefs, neither error was prejudicial either individually or cumulatively; and (2) the trial court erred in allowing the prosecution to use evidence of Defendant's abstract beliefs when advising the jury whether to impose the death penalty, and the error was prejudicial.
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