Unity of Vote	Number of Cases	Percent	Number Reversed vs. Number Affirmed
4-3	2	3.5%	2 reversed vs. 0 affirmed
4-2 or 5-2	11	19%	8 reversed vs. 3 affirmed
5-1 or 6-1	5	9%	2 reversed vs. 3 affirmed
6-0 or 7-0	39	68.5%	8 reversed vs. 31 affirmed
TOTAL	57	100%	20 reversed vs. 37 affirmed 35%    +    65%

Unity of the Court's Decisions
on the Special Circumstances Phase
of the 37 Death Penalty Cases
in which the Conviction
was Affirmed

Unity of Vote	Number of Cases	Percent	Number Reversed vs. Number Affirmed
4-3	4	11%	3 reversed vs. 1 affirmed
4-2 or 5-2	8	22%	6 reversed vs. 2 affirmed
5-1 or 6-1	7	19%	6 reversed vs. 1 affirmed
6-0 or 7-0	18	48%	4 reversed vs. 14 affirmed
TOTAL	37	100%	19 reversed vs. 18 affirmed 51%    +    49%

Unity of the Court's Decisions
on the Penalty Phase
of the 19¹ Death Penalty Cases
in which the Conviction
and Special Circumstances
Were Affirmed

Unity of Vote	Number of Cases	Percent	Number Reversed vs. Number Affirmed
4-3	3	16%	2 reversed vs. 1 affirmed
4-2 or 5-2	6	31%	4 reversed vs. 2 affirmed
5-1 or 6-1	8	42%	8 reversed vs. 0 affirmed
6-0 or 7-0	2	11%	2 reversed vs. 0 affirmed
TOTAL	19	100%	16 reversed vs. 3 affirmed 84%    +    16%

AMA Commentary

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These charts compare the unity of the court's voting record (affirmances and reversals grouped together) on each of the three phases of the death penalty cases reviewed on automatic appeal by the California Supreme Court since 1979.

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¹ Includes one case in which the special circumstances and conviction were previously affirmed.