The defendants were jointly charged by information and convicted by the court of the first degree murder of Mrs. Mildred Weiss, the attempted murder of Prank Boiler, and the robberies of Boiler, Prank Muecia and Archie Bolivar. The court denied defendant Vetter’s timely motion for a separate trial. Massie then pleaded guilty, and *904both defendants waived a jury trial. Bach defendant accepted the stipulation offered by the prosecutor that his guilt and penalty trial be consolidated into one proceeding. The judge sentenced Massie to death for the murder, Vetter to life imprisonment for the murder, and each of the defendants to the terms prescribed by law on the other counts. Vetter’s appeal was consolidated with Massie’s automatic appeal. (Pen. Code, § 1239, subd. (b).)

We hold that Massie’s convictions and death sentence must be affirmed and that Vetter’s convictions must be reversed. We reject the contentions of both defendants that Massie’s confession was involuntary or obtained in violation of bis rights to counsel and to remain silent. We do not accept the contention that the five offenses constituted a single course of conduct precluding multiple punishment. We set forth the evidence supporting the convictions and providing the basis for our conclusions that Vetter’s commitment was not without probable cause and that the trial court properly denied defendants’ motions for new trials on grounds of the insufficiency of the evidence. We explain, however, that the court erred in denying defendant Vetter’s motion for a separate trial and that the combination of prejudicial effects flowing from the error constituted a miscarriage of justice, entitling Vetter to a new trial.

1. The Evidence

Massie began his three-hour series of crimes at 9:15 p.m. on January 7, 1965, in West Covina, with the robbery and attempted murder of Frank Boiler (counts I and TI). Boiler identified Massie at a police lineup by his voice and silhouette as the man who crossed Boiler’s lawn, threatened him with a rifle, and demanded his money. After Boiler gave Massie his wallet Massie said, “Don’t look at me, queer,” and fired a shot grazing Boiler’s temple. Massie then ran off around a hedge and entered a car. The engine of the car started after Massie entered.

Shortly before 10 p.m. Mrs. Mildred Weiss became Massie's next victim (count III). Massie approached Mrs. Weiss as she was standing on the front lawn of her San Gabriel house, directing her husband’s car into their garage. Massie spoke to her for a short time, shot her, and fled to a wait'ng c t several hundred feet up the street. Massie entered the passenger’s door, and the car left.

At about midnight Massie perpetrated the robbery of Frank Muccia and Archie Bolivar in the Twin Gables Bar in Bald*905win Park. Although Massie carried a rifle, Muccia pursued him from the bar and saw him enter the passenger’s side of a waiting car. The vehicle accelerated swiftly, narrowly missing a parked car.

Defendant Vetter was arrested as a result of Massie’s accusation, rendered in his confession, that Vetter drove the getaway car during each of the offenses. Jointly charged by information ivith first degree murder, attempted murder, and three counts of armed robbery, defendants appeared at a preliminary hearing. The victims of the robberies, as well as Mr. Weiss, identified Massie as the perpetrator of each of the offenses. Mr. Weiss and three other men who followed Massie up the street after the shooting of Mrs. Weiss identified Vetter as a man who looked “similar” to the driver. Ballistics experts and a criminologist testified that the markings on cartridges found at the Boiler and Weiss houses resembled both those found on a spent cartridge in Vetter’s car and those obtained from tests of a rifle of the same type as one which a sales clerk stated that Vetter had purchased at his store.

The foregoing evidence adduced at the preliminary hearing sustained the magistrate’s ruling that both defendants stand trial; such evidence also upheld the trial court’s denial of Vetter’s motion under Penal Code section 995 to set aside the information. Vetter argues that no evidence whatsoever connects him with the Boiler, Muccia and Bolivar crimes. The magistrate could reasonably have believed, however, that the person who drove Massie during the perpetration of one of the offenses also drove him during the commission of the other offenses.

2. Massie’s Contentions

Defendant Massie urges that his convictions and death sentence must be reversed because (a) they rest upon confessions obtained in violation of his constitutional rights,1 and (b) under Penal Code section 654 the trial court erred in *906sentencing him on all five counts. As we explain, these contentions cannot stand.

(a) Admissibility of confessions

Massie contends that since his two confessions were involuntary, and obtained in violation of his rights to counsel and to remain silent, their introduction into evidence requires reversal of both his convictions as well as his death penalty.2 The judge heard tape recordings of Massie’s confessions; Massie admitted his commission of the charged robberies and other crimes, stated his intention to rob the murder victim, and accused Vetter of being the driver of the getaway car.3

(i) Voluntariness

Massie contends that his confessions must be treated as involuntary because of evidence that he was under the influence of drugs. The record, as well as the tape recording itself, shows that during the interrogations Massie took a “benny” (benzedrine). He argues that “in the usual dosage [benzedrine] is a stimulant and probably would not impair the ability of a defendant to make a valid confession. But the effect of long continued use of larger quantities of the drug upon the human body cannot be estimated. ’ ’

Massie raised the issue of the voluntariness of his confession on voir dire; he offered direct testimony and was cross-examined upon the influence of the drug on his body; he had the opportunity to present medical evidence on the question of the effects of continued use of benzedrine. On cross-examination Massie admitted, "I put the last one in my mouth in the police station so I could understand the questions they were firing at me better. ’ ’

Nothing in the record indicates that the benzedrine in any way affected Massie’s ability to give a voluntary confession. The record does not establish the effect of benzedrine; it shows that Massie took only one or two pills during the interrogation. Under the circumstances, we cannot hold that the trier of fact could not properly have found that Massie gave a voluntary confession.

*907(ii) Dorado warmings

Massie contends that his confessions were improperly-admitted because the officers failed to administer the warnings required by Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) 378 U.S. 478 [12 L.Ed.2d 977, 84 S.Ct. 1758], and People v. Dorado (1965) 62 Cal.2d 338 [42 Cal.Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361]. He testified that he did not remember being advised of his rights; moreover, he attested that he had asked for an attorney and that the police had denied his request.

The record supports the court’s finding that the officers fully informed Massie of all of his rights, and that he waived them intelligently. Officer Vietti testified that “when we first walked into the room, he wanted to know from the arresting officers if we were investigators and right away, he wanted to tell us. He says, "I have got a lot of things to tell you. ’ . . . When I finally stopped him from talking, I asked him if he had been advised of his rights, and he said yes. And I said, ‘Well, I will do it once more. ’ ... I told him that he could have an attorney and that he didn’t have to tell me anything, and if he did tell me anything, that it could be used in a trial against him. ... I think he said something about, ‘I don’t think an attorney could do me any good now. ’ ’ ’

Officer Vietti stated that Massie did not request counsel, willingly responded to the officers’ questions, readily admitted committing the crime for which he was arrested, and volunteered confessions of crimes “you don’t even suspect me of.” The tape recording of the confessions reveals that Massie volunteered at length details of a series of taxicab robberies and of the present crimes. At that time Massie had not been accused of the instant offenses. He stated, “I am going to tell you a whole lot of things.” “You go ahead, you ask the questions. ” “I want you to get it all down.”

The trial court believed the officer, not Massie. In view of the foregoing testimony, the record does not lack support for the conclusion that although fully informed of his rights, Massie waived his rights and confessed voluntarily.

(b) Multiple punishment

Massie secondly contends that Penal Code section 654,4 prohibited multiple punishment for the offenses because *908Ms acts constituted “a single course of conduct” under People v. Ridley (1965) 63 Cal.2d 671, 677 [47 Cal.Rptr. 796, 408 P.2d 124],5 His argument Mnges, however, upon the identification of such a course of conduct which, according to Ridley, “comprises an indivisible transaction. The divisibility of a course of conduct depends upon the intent and objective of the defendant . . . .” (Id. at p. 677.)

We cannot hold that Massie’s commission of a series of robberies constituted “a single course of conduct.” A defendant may not bootstrap himself into section 654 by claiming that a series of divisible acts, each of which had been committed with a separate identifiable intent and objective, composes an "indivisible transaction. ’ ’ Ridley itself held that section 654 does not apply if “one act has two results each of which is an act of violence against the person of a separate individual.” (Id. at p. 678; see Neal v. State of California (1960) 55 Cal.2d 11, 20-21 [9 Cal.Rptr. 607, 357 P.2d 839] ; People v. Zurica (1964) 225 Cal.App.2d 25, 32 [37 Cal.Rptr. 118].) The commission of multiple violent offenses against different individuals imports a higher degree of culpability than the commission of a single offense against one individual.

Massie also contends that the robbery of Frank Boiler constituted a lesser offense included in the attempted murder. Sufficient evidence, however, shows that the attempted murder did not merely serve as a “means” by which Massie sought to commit robbery, as arson served as the means of attempted murder in Neal, and as the assault on Bennett operated as the means of robbery in Ridley. Massie held Boiler at gunpoint and demanded his wallet. Since his arms were full of packages, Boiler demurred, and Massie struck him with the rifle. Boiler then surrendered his wallet and looked at Massie. Massie said to Boiler, “Don’t look at me, queer,” and fired the shot which grazed Boiler’s temple. The attempted murder occurred as a separate and distinct act after the completion of the robbery; Massie contemplated an objective other than robbery. The two acts therefore merited multiple punishment. (Inre Chapman (1954) 43 Cal.2d 385, 391 [273 P.2d 817].)

' (c) Massie’s other contentions

Massie raises several additional unmeritorious contentions. He urges (i) that the court erred in admitting television news film of a confession that he gave in an interview with a *909reporter; (ii) that the evidence insufficiently supported a conviction of first degree murder; (iii) that the trial court erred in permitting the introduction of evidence admissible only as to penalty before it fixed the degree of the murder; (iv) that psychological and physical duress rendered his guilty plea involuntary; (v) that the court denied him the opportunity to obtain counsel of his choice; and (vi) that he suffered inadequate representation by the deputy public defender.

(i) Massie contends that the trial court committed reversible error in admitting into evidence a sound news film, taken at the police station after Massie’s second confession, depicting Massie admitting his guilt in an interview with a reporter. In People v. Price (1965) 63 Cal.2d 370, 379 [46 Cal.Rptr. 775, 406 P.2d 55], the court stated: “. . . the statement made by defendant to the reporter was in no way a result of police interrogation, but was wholly voluntary, and hence no reason appears for excluding it. . . . Absent evidence of police complicity, the admission of defendant’s statement to the reporter infringed no constitutional right or defeated any purpose fostered by the recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court and of this court. ’ ’

Price controls the present case. Police had already obtained Massie’s confession after he had been advised of his constitutional rights. Massie consented to, and did fully, participate in the interview; he adduced no evidence of compulsion or of police complicity in staging it. Massie asks that we reexamine the principle enunciated in Price in light of Sheppard v. Maxwell (1966) 384 U.S. 333 [16 L.Ed.2d 600, 86 S.Ct. 1507], and Estes v. Texas, (1965) 381 U.S. 532 [14 L.Ed.2d 543, 85 S.Ct. 1628], as well as Rideau v. Louisiana (1963) 373 U.S. 723 [10 L.Ed.2d 663, 83 S.Ct. 1417], In those cases, however, the effect of the publicity generated by television and other news media deprived the defendants of an impartial jury and a fair trial. Massie submits no contention that publicity of his confession was so pervasive in Los Angeles County as would have rendered selection of an impartial jury impossible.

(ii) The evidence sufficiently supported a conviction of first degree murder. In his properly obtained confession, Massie admitted that he shot Mrs. Weiss while attempting to commit the felony of robbery. He committed robberies shortly before and soon after the murder. The evidence justified the judge’s finding that the murder occurred during the commis*910sion of a felony and that it was therefore of the highest degree.

(iii) Massie’s counsel objected to the introduction of evidence of other offenses committed by Massie before the court determined the degree of the murder “on the ground that such testimony would be incompetent . . . and . . . not tend to prove or disprove any of the issues in the present case, and . . . not tend to show the state of mind of the defendant as of January the 7 th, 1965.” Massie, however, pleaded guilty, waived jury trial on the issues of the degree of murder and penalty, and stipulated that the court could determine the degree as well as the penalty. He agreed that if the court should find the offense to be of the first degree it could, in fixing the penalty, consider the evidence adduced by Vetter as well as additional evidence offered by Massie. Thus Massie agreed that the court could hear evidence which would be admissible only on the question of penalty before the court actually determined the degree of murder. Whatever the wisdom of such a stipulation, Massie cannot now urge error in a procedure which he accepted.

(iv) Massie did not allege in the trial court that his guilty plea was compelled. He made no motion to substitute a new and different plea. The only sources of duress he now asserts are his marital difficulties and his conditions of high-security confinement. We cannot hold that Massie entered his plea of guilty under psychological or physical duress.

(v) Massie contends that the trial court committed prejudicial error in refusing to grant him a continuance to enable him to obtain “private counsel.” lie argues that “if the defendant, during the requested week, could have found an attorney to represent him, then the court could not have rejected this ‘private’ counsel.” Massie did not, however, seek substitution of a particular private attorney of his own choosing. He sought appointment of some private counsel. An indigent defendant cannot assert a right to the appointment of a particular attorney. Massie alleged no specific reason why the public defender could not adequately defend him. The present ease is distinguishable from People v. Crovedi (1966) 65 Cal.2d 199 [53 Cal.Rptr. 284, 417 P.2d 868], and People v. Byoune (1966) 65 Cal.2d 345 [54 Cal.Rptr. 749, 420 P.2d 221], In those cases, defendants had either retained private counsel or asserted their intention of retaining private counsel. Massie, however, sought appointment of private counsel.

(vi) Finally, Massie contends that he suffered a *911denial of effective representation of counsel. He states that counsel persuaded him to plead guilty, although counsel “knew that there was not sufficient evidence to give a felony murder conviction because of the conflict in the evidence as to the robbery. lie also knew that defendant was under the influence of dangerous drugs at the time of the commission of the offense and at the time of the interrogation.” Counsel should have “entered evidence of diminished responsibility.” Massie contends that counsel “could have argued accidental death, or insanity, or lack of the intent which is a necessary prerequisite for murder in the first degree. . . . Even after the plea of guilty to murder was entered, the defenses available to the defendant were still of such an importance that the death penalty might not have been induced. ’ ’

“To justify relief on this ground [of inadequate representation of counsel], ‘an extreme case must be disclosed.’ . . . It must appear that counsel’s lack of diligence or competence reduced the trial to a ‘farce or a sham.’ ” (People v. Ibarra (1963) 60 Cal.2d 460, 464 [34 Cal.Rptr. 863, 386 P.2d 487].) We cannot find that Massie’s trial approached “a farce or a sham.” Quite to the contrary, the public defender vigorously represented his client, cross-examined the People’s witnesses thoroughly, apparently with possible defenses in mind, urged necessary objections, and acquitted himself well in arguments at the bench. Massie’s representation by counsel was adequate.

We have reviewed the record and we can find no reason why we should not affirm Massie’s conviction and death penalty.

3. Tetter’s Contentions

(a) Insufficiency of the evidence

Vetter contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a new trial which was premised on the ground that the evidence did not sufficiently support the verdict. We consider the testimony in some detail in order to explain why we cannot accept that contention, but we conclude that the evidence is so closely balanced as to render prejudicial the errors which we shall discuss below.

The crux of Vetter’s position is that the prosecution witnesses did not successfully identify him as the driver of the car that Massie used in the perpetration of the Weiss murder. In this endeavor defendant focuses on the testimony of four adverse witnesses. The remaining showing against Vetter *912consisted of the additional testimony that Massie used a car similar to Vetter’s in the tavern robbery and the murder, and that the rifle which Massie used in firing shots at Boiler and Mrs. Weiss appeared to be of the same type as Vetter’s gun. Such evidence, however, is equally consistent with Vetter’s innocence as with his guilt; it is consistent with the defense testimony of Vetter and his wife that the rifle was in the car which Vetter lent Massie.

Two of the four witnesses were the husband and son of the victim. The husband, Mr. Weiss, testified that after he had pursued Massie 100 yards up the street to the car, he fell against the left rear fender as the car moved away, and briefly observed the back of the driver’s head. He stated at the trial that Vetter "resembled the man in the driver’s seat.” The son, Ronald Weiss, testified that he also pursued Massie, running some distance behind his father. Asked whether lie saw the driver, Ronald stated that “before he pulled away I was in the street . . . and I ran behind the car [to within] 40 feet, and I saw the back of his head.” At a five-man lineup four weeks after the date of the crime, Ronald picked out Vetter as one whose back appeared "familiar. ’ ’

Two other persons, neighbors of the Weisses, identified Vetter. John Billiek, joining in the attempt to apprehend the killer, ran to within 15 feet of the back of the car. and saw a partial left rear profile and the left shoulder of the driver. The driver was “a male definitely,” according to Billiek, but he could make no “positive identification.” Richard Nichols, who also followed Massie, testified that he “got within approximately five feet . . . closest to the driver’s side of the automobile.” He saw a 45-degree rear profile of the driver, and “recognized Vetter at the lineup and in court as the driver.

The defense sought to establish its theory of the crimes by adducing the testimony of Vetter and his wife, and that of a witness to Massie’s escape from the tavern robbery who testified that a woman drove the getaway car, and by attacking the testimony of the identification witnesses. Vetter and his wife testified that Vetter lent Massie his car,6 which contained his *913rifle;7 Vetter stayed home to help his wife pack for the family’s impending move to Massachusetts.8 The defense theorized that Massie committed the first robbery alone, decided that a getaway driver was necessary, picked up a male friend who drove during the Weiss murder, but who became frightened and left, and induced a woman to drive for him during the tavern robbery.

To prove that Vetter could not have been driving Massie’s getaway car during the tavern robbery, the defense called as a witness the woman who had been sitting in the parked car which was nearly struck as Massie’s car sped out of the Twin Gables Bar parking lot. After hearing the sound of the window shattering from the impact of the bottle thrown at Massie by victim Muecia, she saw “a car coming towards us with headlights off.” The driver “was a female,” based upon “her general appearance, her hair was shoulder length.” There was “no question” in her mind “that the driver of the car was a woman.” She was “absolutely positive of that. ’ ’

The defense also attacked the reliability of the testimonial identifications of Vetter. Mr. Weiss and Mr. Billick each admitted that at a brightly illuminated lineup, four weeks after the crime, he had failed to pick out Vetter at all. Mr. Weiss stated of an individual other than Vetter whom he chose as the driver, “I think this is the man.” Billick selected this same man as the one who “most closely resembles” the driver. Ronald admitted that shortly before he viewed the lineup he had seen a picture of Vetter in a newspaper account which stated that Vetter was the driver of the car. Nichols admitted that the same newspaper had been delivered to his home, but he could not recall whether he had read the newspaper that day. He conceded that he “cannot positively identify Mr. Vetter as the driver of that car. ’ ’

The defense succeeded in establishing that the four wit*914nesses ’ observations of the driver were made under very poor lighting conditions. Mr. Weiss stated: “There was no light. It wasn’t light at all.” Billick replied affirmatively to a question inquiring whether “this was an extremely dark area.” Further cross-examination of Billick showed that Nichols was not, as he claimed, five feet from the ear, but nowhere in the vicinity of the car. Nichols also admitted that his account of the escape to police immediately after the crime differed in important respects from those of the other three observers.9 Similarly, Ronald admitted that he told police that there had been three men in the car, and that he had viewed a photograph of Vetter’s ear and stated, “this wasn’t the car I recognized.”

Although the evidence is in substantial conflict, we cannot accept Vetter’s contention that it did not sufficiently support a verdict of guilt on any of the five counts.

We cannot say that the identifications of Vetter—even if reached under the difficult circumstances as to time, lighting, excitement, and previous views of the defendant—were so impeached, inherently improbable, or physically impossible as to render them unworthy of belief. (People v. Huston (1943) 21 Cal.2d 690, 693 [134 P.2d 758] ; People v. Trippell (1936) 7 Cal.2d 612, 614 [61 P.2d 929].) Nor can we hold that, having believed that Vetter was the driver during the murder, the trier of fact could not reasonably have inferred that he also participated in robberies perpetrated by Massie within a three-hour period, in the same locale, using the same vehicle for escape. Each witness’ identification of Vetter may have been far from positive, but we cannot hold that taken together they did not constitute sufficient evidence upon which to convict. Nevertheless, we recognize that, without doubt, the evidence was closely balanced.

(b) Denial of a separate trial

Vetter contended that the court erred in denying his motion for a separate trial. We explain that the judge committed error (i) in failing to exercise his discretion to consider relevant and long-established reasons for granting a severance, *915and (ii) in failing to order a separate trial under the rules announced in People v. Aranda (1965) 63 Cal.2d 518, 530-531 [47 Cal.Rptr. 353, 407 P.2d 265], "We explain that because of the delicate balance of the evidence, the prejudicial effects of the error constituted a miscarriage of justice, compelling us to reverse Vetter’s convictions and accord him the separate trial to which he was initially entitled.

Vetter offered a timely motion for a severance before the commencement of the trial, advancing four supporting reasons: (1) Massie had given extrajudicial confessions accusing Vetter; (2) in view of the kinds of crimes charged against Massie, and his extensive criminal record, Vetter would suffer guilt by association; (3) despite the lack of evidence against Vetter on four of the five counts, and the weak identification evidence, the jury would consider against Vetter the strong evidence of Massie’s guilt; and (4) a conflict would arise between defendants as to the method of trial caused by Massie’s desire to waive a jury.10 An additional reason confronted the court: only at a separate trial could Vetter call Massie as his witness, presenting the possibility that Massie would exonerate him.11

The record shows that the judge refused to consider whether Massie had made an implicating extrajudicial confession that might be prejudicial to Vetter if introduced at a joint trial,12 and did not believe that he could grant a motion for a separate trial based upon the possibility that a jury would find guilt by association,13 or upon a conflict in defense *916strategy.14 The court apparently felt that it could not exercise its discretion to order the requested separate trial on the proffered ground that the jury might be unable to confine its consideration of the evidence adduced on the multiple counts to the particular charge upon which, and the defendant against whom, the evidence would be offered.15 The record does not show whether, in denying the motion for a separate trial, the court considered the possibility that Massie would testify in Vetter’s behalf at a separate trial. The judge did not ask the prosecutor whether he had implicating confessions given by Massie or whether the prosecutor would forego use of the confessions at a joint trial.

(i) Failure to exercise discretion

Penal Code section 1098 in 1921 abrogated the former rule that codefendants enjoyed an absolute right to separate trials, restoring the common law rule which placed the matter within the discretion of the trial court. (See United States v. Marchant (1827) 25 U.S. (12 Wheat.) 480, 481-484 [6 L.Ed. 700] ; Witkin, Cal. Criminal Procedure (1963) § 291; and cases there cited.) Older cases had held almost unanimously that a court could never abuse its discretion in denying a motion for a separate trial because the jury could be admonished not to consider prejudicial testimony admissible only against a co-defendant.16 The more recent cases, however, recognizing the impossibility of a juror’s obliteration from his mind of that which he already knew,17 have held that the court should *917separate the trials of codefendants in the face of an incriminating confession,18 prejudicial association with codefendants,19 likely confusion resulting from evidence on multiple counts,20 conflicting defenses,21 or the possibility that at a separate trial a codefendant would give exonerating testimony.22

The trial judge took the mistaken view that he was precluded from granting a separate trial and therefore erroneously refused consideration of at least three of the appropriate reasons advanced by Vetter. Although we need not decide whether the court was required to grant a severance under the circumstances, or that such denial of the motion after proper consideration of its grounds would have been an abuse of *918discretion,, the court erred in refusing to exercise its discretion. Vetter was at least entitled to the court’s consideration of his motion under a correct view of the law. We must therefore hold that the court erred in its denial of the motion for a separate trial.23

(ii) Error under Aranda

The rules announced in People v. Aranda, supra, 63 Cal.2d 518, provide an independent source of error in the trial court’s denial of Vetter’s motion for a separate trial. In Aranda, we set forth the procedure to be followed when a defendant moves for a separate trial on the basis of a codefendant’s incriminating extrajudicial confession. (Id. at pp. 530-531.) In People v. Charles, ante, pp. 330, 344 [57 Cal.Rptr. 745, 425 P.2d 545], we held these rules applicable to cases tried before the date on which Aranda was announced, and pending upon appeal.

Under Aranda, Vetter should have been accorded a separate trial unless either (1) the incriminating portions of Massie’s confessions could have been effectively deleted without prejudice to Massie, or (2) the prosecutor assured the court that the confessions would not be used. Plainly, the prosecutor did not offer such an assurance, nor could he have been expected to do so, at a time before we condemned in Aranda the then accepted practice. Although the prosecutor in all likelihood would have elected the severance rather than the sacrifice of the use of Massie’s confessions,24 we need not rely upon such speculation. If Vetter could not obtain the assurance of the prosecutor that he would not use the statements, Vetter was at least entitled to the court’s determination of whether the *919references to him in the confessions could be effectively deleted. The propriety of the court’s denial of severance, under Aranda, turns, therefore, on the question of whether the incriminating portions of Massie’s confessions could have been properly deleted.

The transcript of Massie’s two confessions reveals that whenever he spoke of the five charged offenses he referred to “me and John” as the individuals who committed the crimes. He continually used the pronoun “we.” He named Vetter as the driver and owner of the getaway vehicle and the owner of the rifle, and suggested that, as the driver, Vetter conceived the idea of committing the crimes. The character of Massie’s statements would leave no doubt, even if Vetter’s name had been deleted, that Massie referred to the same individual throughout the confessions. Once Vetter’s “identity [was] otherwise established by “evidence linking the defendants together before and after the crime” (People v. Aranda, supra, 63 Cal.2d 518, 531 & fn. 10), and by the other relevant testimony, the jury would have encountered no difficulty in filling in the deletions in the confession. (See Anderson v. United States (1943) 318 U.S. 350, 356 [87 L.Ed. 829, 63 S.Ct. 599]; People v. La Ruffa, supra, 153 N.Y.S.2d 352, 354.) Since the incriminating portions of the confessions could not have been effectively deleted, the Aranda rules left the trial court only the option of severance. Its denial of Vetter’s motion, therefore, was erroneous for a second reason.

Neither Vetter’s subsequent waiver of jury trial, nor Massie's later plea of guilty cured the court’s error in denying the motion for separate trials. The propriety of the denial of a motion for separate trials must be tested as of the time of the submission of the motion (People v. Clark (1965) 62 Cal.2d 870, 883 [44 Cal.Rptr. 784, 402 P.2d 856]) ; the question of error cannot be determined in the context of subsequent developments at the trial. (People v. Santo (1954) 43 Cal.2d 319, 332 [273 P.2d 249]; People v. Eudy (1938) 12 Cal.2d 41, 46 [82 P.2d 359].)

(iii) Prejudicial effect of denial of separate trial

Courts have taken three basic approaches in considering the prejudicial effects of an erroneous denial of a separate trial under the harmless error rules prevalent in all jurisdictions.25

*920(1) In holding harmless error rules inapplicable, and requiring automatic reversal of convictions, some courts have emphasized (a) that infringement of the right to a separate trial constitutes a denial of an important procedural safeguard ; (b) that the trial court lacked the statutory authority to conduct the trial under an unauthorized mode of procedure; and (c) that the grant of the separate trial, to which defendant was initially entitled, offers the only available remedy by which to enforce the right and to prevent its emasculation.26

(2) Other courts have applied harmless error rules, but have held that improper denial of a separate trial is itself a *921miscarriage of justice, because (a) the result under the proper mode of trial cannot be guessed; (b) the record cannot be expected to reveal such hidden prejudicial effects of a joint trial as consideration against the defendant of evidence admitted only as against codefendants, inhibition of the presentation of defense evidence, and guilt by association; and (c) the prejudicial impact of these effects cannot be measured, but may be assumed to be substantial.27

(3) Finally, some courts have applied the test of harmless error and considered the prejudicial effect only of (a) particular errors which may be identified, such as the erroneous admission of the implicating portions of eodefendants’ confessions, and (b) significant differences from the joint trial that would have occurred if the defendant had been tried separately, considering also (c) the amount of evidence of defendant’s guilt presented at the joint trial.28

*922We have concluded that in the absence of federal constitutional compulsion,29 the third approach is the most appropriate. We do not believe that we should reverse a conviction achieved at a joint trial in the absence of a reasonable proba*923bility that the defendant would have obtained a more favorable result at a separate trial. Although we recognize the importance of the preservation of the procedural safeguard of a separate trial, the Legislature has decreed joint trials to be the rule and separate trials the exception. The question of the erroneous denial of a severance does not rise to jurisdictional magnitude, nor is the right to a separate trial so fundamental that its denial must occasion automatic reversal. We cannot say that in every case of an improper denial of a separate trial, a joint trial is necessarily so unfair as to amount to a miscarriage of justice. We must weigh the prejudicial impact of all of the significant effects that may reasonably be assumed to have stemmed from the erroneous denial of a separate trial.

In the present case, in view of the closely balanced state of the evidence, it is reasonably probable that Vetter would have obtained a more favorable verdict at a separate trial. First, we have recognized that even a judge would face a formidable task in attempting to exclude from his consciousness the certain knowledge that in his confession, inadmissible as to Vetter, Massie had named Vetter as the driver of his getaway car.30 Second, at a separate trial Vetter might have obtained the exonerating testimony of Massie.31 Third, absent the fear of Massie’s implicating confession reaching the ears of a jury, Vetter probably would not have waived trial by jury.32 Fourth, Vetter would not have been tainted with *924suspicion as the eodefendant and confederate of a perpetrator of murder. Thus the erroneous denial of his motion for a separate trial worked prejudice against Vetter under California Constitution article VI, section 13, and People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818, 836 [299 P.2d 243],

As to defendant Massie, the judgments are affirmed; the judgments against defendant Vetter are reversed.

Traynor, C. J., Peters, J., and Sullivan, J., concurred.

I concur in the affirmance of the judgments as to Massie but dissent from the reversal of the judgments as to Vetter.

In my opinion the procedural requirements in People v. Aranda, 63 Cal.2d 518 [43 Cal.Rptr.], do not apply to a case such as the present one, which was tried before the decision was rendered in Aranda (see concurring and dissenting opinion in People v. Charles, ante, pp. 330, 345-347 [57 Cal.Rptr. 745, 425 P.2d 545]). I believe that the trial court’s failure to take the steps subsequently required by the Aranda rules and his asserted failure to exercise his discretion under the pre-Aranda rules was not prejudicial (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 13; People v. Watson, 46 Cal.2d 818, 836 [299 P.2d 243]).

This was a nonjury case tried by an experienced trial judge who presumably was able to exclude from his consideration in determining Vetter’s guilt evidence admitted solely against Massie and to determine Vetter’s guilt on the basis of the evidence rather than suspicions arising from Vetter’s association with Massie. Although at a separate trial Vetter might have obtained exonerating testimony of Massie, it is likewise possible that Vetter would, not have called Massie as a witness or that Massie, if called, would not have given exonerating testimony. Even had Massie been called and given such testimony he could have been impeached by his extrajudicial statements accusing Vetter of being the driver of the getaway car. In my opinion it is not reasonably probable that a result more favorable to Vetter would have been reached in the *925absence of the asserted errors, and I would affirm the judgments as to Vetter as well as to Massie.

McComb, J., and Mosk, J., concurred.

The petition of appellant Massie for a rehearing was denied July 19, 1967.