Pen. Code, § 190.1 · Chapter 1. Homicide
Pen. Code, § 190.1
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
A case in which the death penalty may be imposed pursuant to this chapter shall be tried in separate phases as follows:
(a) The question of the defendant’s guilt shall be first determined. If the trier of fact finds the defendant guilty of first degree murder, it shall at the same time determine the truth of all special circumstances charged as enumerated in Section 190.2 except for a special circumstance charged pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 190.2 where it is alleged that the defendant had been convicted in a prior proceeding of the offense of murder in the first or second degree.
(b) If the defendant is found guilty of first degree murder and one of the special circumstances is charged pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 190.2 which charges that the defendant had been convicted in a prior proceeding of the offense of murder of the first or second degree, there shall thereupon be further proceedings on the question of the truth of such special circumstance.
(c) If the defendant is found guilty of first degree murder and one or more special circumstances as enumerated in Section 190.2 has been charged and found to be true, his sanity on any plea of not guilty by reason of insanity under Section 1026 shall be determined as provided in Section 190.4. If he is found to be sane, there shall thereupon be further proceedings on the question of the penalty to be imposed. Such proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Section 190.3 and 190.4.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Repealed and added November 7, 1978, by initiative Proposition 7, Sec. 4.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=190.1.
- Text hash
- sha256 b6d348e9a1231456cc3a9ad8f4a918bc14ec995d3b1057b6dab79ee3f583d61d
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Cited by 7 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 190.1. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 190Printed as Sections 190.1, 190.2, 190.3, 190.4, and 190.5
- Pen. Code, § 190.05Printed as Sections 190.1, 190.2, 190.3, 190.4, and 190.5
- Pen. Code, § 190.2Printed as Sections 190.1, 190.3, 190.4, and 190.5
- Pen. Code, § 190.25Printed as Sections 190.1, 190.2, 190.3, 190.4, and 190.5
- Pen. Code, § 190.3Printed as Section 190.1
- Pen. Code, § 190.4Printed as Section 190.1
- Pen. Code, § 1385.1Printed as Sections 190.1 to 190.5, inclusive
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.