In San Francisco, the Ninth U

In San Francisco, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the death sentence of a Kern County man convicted of killing a woman 23 years ago. Ronald Sanders, 52, was convicted of clubbing to death Janice Allen, 52. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Sanders' jury might have been improperly induced into sentencing him to death. The court said jurors were asked, among other things, to vote for execution if they found the murder "heinous, atrocious and cruel." The appeals court said that jury instruction was too vague and required jurors to "guess at its meaning." The court, however, upheld the murder conviction handed up by the same Kern County jury meaning Sanders will remain in prison for life unless prosecutors convince a new jury that he should die by lethal injection. The case is Sanders v. Woodford, 01-99017.