http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/oct/25/efforts-underway-ballot-measure-end-death-penalty
By Todd Spitzer: The solution to the death penalty is not to abolish it; that has been the agenda by some for years. Now they are using the inefficiency of the system--more than 25 years of delay and appeals--to call for life without the possibility of parole. The solution: allow the Courts of Appeals to hear death case appeals; not just the CA Supreme Court which has original jurisdiction. This idea was first floated by Justice George while I was still in the Legislature in 2008.