the California Supreme Court found that Adam Miranda was wrongly sentenced to death

In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court found that Adam Miranda was wrongly sentenced to death in 1982 for murder because Los Angeles district attorneys withheld a confession to the killing by their star witness. Miranda was convicted for the murder of Gary Black at a mini-mart. He also was charged with a 2nd murder in the stabbing death of Robert Hosey, which made Miranda eligible for the death penalty. The main witness on the Hosey charge against Miranda was Joe Saucedo, a convict. But even as Saucedo was testifying against Miranda, the prosecutors had a letter in which Saucedo confessed that he had committed the crime, Miranda's lawyers told the Supreme Court in their petition. Miranda's lawyers found 4 more witnesses who testified that Saucedo had confessed to them he was the murderer. The district attorney's office knew about the confessions while seeking the death penalty against Miranda, his attorneys said. The California Supreme Court agreed and determined that the death penalty sentence was improper. Miranda has served 26 years on San Quentin's death row.