It pays to testify.
Bonilla hires Keyes and Nichols to kill his business partner. Bonilla lures the partner to an office complex, at which Keyes and Nichols commit the murder.
The cops eventually catch up with Keyes -- who had been hired for previous murders as well -- and Keyes agrees to testify against Bonilla and Nichols.
Bonilla gets the death penalty. Keyes, who actually committed the murder, gets no more than three years.
The California Supreme Court unanimously affirms.
The whole story actually reads like something out of a real-world Sopranos. Including the huge incentive to "rat out" your fellow murderers. 'Cause three years for getting caught whacking someone ain't that bad a deal at all.
