This case reaches us again after a retrial following this court's reversal of defendant's convictions. At the initial trial in 1980, a jury found defendant Rodney James Alcala guilty of first degree murder, with a kidnapping-murder special circumstance, and other related offenses. Following the jury's penalty-phase verdict, defendant was sentenced to death. In reversing defendant's convictions, this court concluded that the trial court committed prejudicial error at the guilt phase of the trial by admitting evidence of defendant's prior offenses. (People v. Alcala (1984) 36 Cal. 3d 604, 629-636
