SAN QUENTIN (KPIX 5) – The California Supreme Court began hearing arguments on Wednesday in Donte McDaniel’s appeal on the death penalty, a case legal experts say could affect the future of the death penalty in the state.

McDaniel’s case could make it difficult for prosecutors to get people on California’s death row, and almost every inmate could be affected.

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McDaniel, one of 700 convicted inmates in San Quentin, was convicted of two murders in 2004 at the age of 24 following a gang-related drug deal.

The inmate’s lawyers concentrate on so-called “aggravating factors”, 22 different things such as gang activities, the perpetrator’s lurking, or particularly heinous or cruel acts.

Lara Bazelon, a law professor at the University of San Francisco, said current law requires juries to agree to an aggravating factor, not a specific one.

“The lawyers say the jury must agree on the specific aggravating factors that will result in their finding death beyond doubt, and the law does not require them to do so now,” Bazelon told KPIX 5.

This is what the governor and public defenders want to change, which makes it difficult to impose the death penalty.

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Bazelon believes the composition of the court right now means that change has a real chance.

“We now have a seat inclined to the left. There are Jerry Brown commissioners on this court. There are Gavin Newsom officers for this court, ”said the professor. “And the litigants may think that there will be a more receptive audience to attacks on the constitutionality of the death penalty.”

Bazelon said she doesn’t necessarily believe the California Supreme Court ruling would apply retrospectively and to anyone already on death row.

“You could say, ‘Yes, there is a problem with this death sentence,’ but everyone else who came before this sentence does not benefit from it, they stick with their death sentences,” she said. “It is only going forward prospectively, the defendants will benefit from it.”

The professor said it was really unclear what the court will do to make retrospective changes.

Ultimately, the district attorneys would decide whether to repeat the sentencing phase for all of these convictions. But many prosecutors have sided with the governor for this move.

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A judgment from the California Supreme Court is expected in the next three to six months.

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