People v. Bertsch and Hronis

── People v. Bertsch and Hronis ── Court: California Supreme Court Date: April 20, 2026 Category: General IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JOHN ANTHONY BERTSCH and JEFFERY LEE HRONIS, Defendants and Appellants. S093944 Sacramento County Superior Court 94F07295 April 20, 2026 Chief Justice Guerrero authored the opinion of the Court, in which Justices Corrigan, Liu, Kruger, Groban, Evans, and Viramontes* concurred. * Associate Justice of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Eight, assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution.  PEOPLE v. BERTSCH and HRONIS S093944 Opinion of the Court by Guerrero, C. J. Defendants John Anthony Bertsch and Jeffery Lee Hronis were tried together and convicted by separate juries of the murder, rape, and kidnapping of Linda Canady. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 264.1; id., former § 209, subd. (b).)1 The juries also found true kidnapping-murder, robbery-murder, and rape- murder special-circumstance allegations. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17).) Bertsch’s jury convicted him of sodomy and found true a sodomy-murder special-circumstance allegation. (§§ 286, subd. (d), 190.2, subd. (a)(17).) Bertsch and Hronis were tried separately before two penalty phase juries. Each jury returned a death verdict. The trial court denied motions for new trials and to modify the judgments, and it sentenced Bertsch and Hronis to death. The court also sentenced Bertsch and Hronis to various terms of imprisonment and stayed execution of the prison sentences. Specifically, it sentenced Hronis to life imprisonment on the kidnapping charge and nine years imprisonment on the rape in concert charge, and it likewise sentenced Bertsch to life imprisonment on the kidnapping charge, nine years imprisonment on the rape in concert charge, and nine years imprisonment on the sodomy in concert charge. The court also ordered Bertsch and Hronis to each pay a restitution fine under 1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated. 1  PEOPLE v. BERTSCH and HRONIS Opinion of the Court by Guerrero, C. J. Government Code former section 13967 (subsequently replaced by Pen. Code, § 1202.4) in the amount of $10,000. In this automatic appeal (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 11, subd. (a); § 1239, subd. (b)), we affirm the convictions of both Bertsch and Hronis and affirm the judgment of death against Bertsch. However, based on subsequent changes in the law governing a defendant’s competency to represent himself at trial, we reverse Hronis’s sentence, including the death judgment. In addition, any balance of restitution fines issued under section 1202.4 as to both Bertsch and Hronis are vacated pursuant to section 1465.9, subdivision (d). I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. Guilt Phase 1. Prosecution evidence a. Overview The prosecution presented evidence that in late December 1985, Bertsch and Hronis were being pursued by law enforcement for a string of robberies in the Sacramento area. The duo planned to evade law enforcement by leaving town. They told friends of their plan to prowl a parking lot, find someone they could overpower, and take her vehicle. On December 22, 1985, they followed through on their plan. They kidnapped Canady from a shopping center parking lot, drove hundreds of miles south to a remote area, and raped and sodomized Canady before crushing her to death and discarding her body in an irrigation canal. b. Sacramento convenience store robberies and investigation In December 1985, several convenience stores in the Sacramento area were robbed. On December 2, a man robbed a