Legislative Headlines

By Alexei Koseff – California could give a second chance to hundreds of individuals serving prison time for murders they did not commit.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday signed without comment Senate Bill 1437, which scales back prosecutors’ ability to use the “felony murder rule” to charge accomplices to a homicide. It also allows inmates locked up for felony murder – estimated by proponents of the bill at between 400 and 800 – to apply for re-sentencing.