Five justices vote to vacate the death sentence. Two justices -- Justices Corrigan and Chin -- dissent. In an opinion that is only three pages long.
Every case is different, of course. And one view of today's opinion would be to simply conclude that this particular case was a strong one for the defendant.
But my personal opinion is that there's something -- albeit maybe something marginal -- at stake as well. That in part explains the 5-2 vote.
It's definitely not that the California Supreme Court is about to start vacating every single death sentence. But I do think that the era of virtually every single death sentence being unanimously affirmed is pretty much over at this point.
