Supreme Court rules for Arizona inmate in death penalty case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled for a man on Arizona’s death row who wants a new sentencing hearing because jurors in his case were wrongly told that the only way to ensure he would never walk free was to sentence him to death. The 5-4 decision written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor likely means that John Montenegro Cruz will get a new penalty phase of his trial where it’s made clear to jurors that he is ineligible for parole if he’s sentenced to life in prison, instead of death. Arizona currently has approximately 100 people on its death row and the decision could affect about 30 of them with pending cases.