The California Supreme Court handed down two decisions last week that could impact decades of sentencing for gang-related offenses and allow thousands of people to petition courts to reexamine their cases.

Both rulings turned on a 2021 law that raised the standard of evidence for proving that someone broke a law as part of “criminal street gang activity.” In different ways, the Supreme Court chose to apply the new standard to past convictions.

One decision took an incarcerated person off Death Row in a case that originated in Orange County; the other sided with two incarcerated people who contested past “strikes” on their records that set them on course for lengthy sentences.

It’s uncertain how far-reaching the two rulings will be. Both of them came in split decisions, reflecting d

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