## Facts

- Earl Clarence Sears married Clara Sears in 1960; marital conflict arose over living arrangements, and he eventually moved to a hotel.
- On May 12, 1963, Clara testified Sears threatened to kill her and her children if she sought a divorce.
- On May 16, 1963, after drinking earlier in the evening, Sears went with a friend to Clara’s cottage late at night; they entered through an unlocked door.
- Sears went to the bedroom where Clara was reading and her daughter Elizabeth was asleep; he persuaded Clara to go to the kitchen.
- When Clara returned briefly for slippers, Sears grabbed her, produced an iron bar concealed in his clothing, and beat her until she lost consciousness.
- Sears then used implements obtained from the kitchen to attack Clara, Elizabeth, and Clara’s mother, Frances Montijo; Elizabeth died from a cut to her throat, and Clara and Montijo suffered serious injuries.
- Sears testified he entered without intent to assault and brought the iron bar only to frighten Clara to discuss reconciliation.
- The jury was instructed on first-degree felony murder based on burglary, with burglary defined as entry with intent to commit a felony assault.

## Issues

1. Whether burglary—and thus first-degree felony murder—can be based on entry with the specific intent to commit a felonious assault, and whether the evidence supported that intent at the moment of entry.
2. Whether jury instructions adequately permitted consideration of intoxication and mental condition on the formation of specific intent and malice (diminished capacity).
3. Whether guilt- or penalty-phase errors required reversal of the convictions or the death sentence.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the convictions for first-degree murder and attempted murder.
- The court held the felony-murder instruction was proper because burglary requires specific intent at entry, and the jury was correctly told felony murder does not apply if the intent to assault arose only after entry.
- The evidence supported an inference that Sears entered with intent to commit a felonious assault, including prior threats, late-night entry, concealment of the iron bar, and immediate use of force.
- The court concluded the diminished-capacity and intoxication instructions, though imperfect, were not prejudicial in the guilt phase because they allowed the jury to consider impairment as it bore on specific intent and malice.
- The court reversed the death sentence and remanded for a new penalty trial due to prejudicial error in the penalty proceedings.

## Legal Principles

- Burglary requires proof that, at the moment of entry, the defendant had the specific intent to commit a felony; an intent formed only after lawful entry does not satisfy burglary.
- A burglary predicated on intent to commit a felonious assault may serve as the underlying felony for first-degree felony murder if the assaultive intent existed at entry.
- In determining degree of homicide and applicability of felony murder, the trier of fact may consider evidence of intoxication and mental impairment as it bears on specific intent, malice, and premeditation (under then-governing California doctrine).
- Errors affecting the penalty determination in a capital case can require reversal of the death judgment even when the guilt judgment is affirmed.

## Conclusion

The court upheld Sears’s guilt verdicts, concluding the jury could find he entered the home intending a felonious assault sufficient for burglary-based felony murder and that the mental-state instructions were not prejudicial, but it set aside the death sentence because penalty-phase error undermined the reliability of the jury’s capital sentencing choice.


People v. Sears, 2 Cal. 3d 180, 465 P.2d 847 (Cal. 1970)