People v. Bivert
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of first degree murder of a prison inmate where the jury found that defendant used a deadly weapon in the commission of the murder and found true the special circumstance of allegations of prior convictions of first degree murder and lying in wait. The jury further convicted defendant of assault with a deadly weapon by a life prisoner and found he had been convicted in 1988 of three counts of first degree murder. Defendant was sentenced to death and this appeal was automatic. The court addressed claims regarding the denial of defendant's motion for separate juries for the guilty phase and the special circumstance and penalty phase; excusal for cause of prospective Juror No. 3; refusal to excuse for cause of Prospective Juror No. 8; introduction of evidence that defendant was a white supremacist; instructional error; whether defendant's death sentence was cruel and unusual punishment because it was based primarily on prior murders committed when he was a juvenile; and California's death penalty statute. The court subsequently affirmed the judgment of the superior court.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.