The AP reports (via WSJ) that the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 (in a decision written by Justice Kennedy) that the 9th Circuit was wrong to vacate the death sentence in a California murder case. The 9th Circuit had reversed the capital verdict on the ground that the jury may not have considered the prospect that the murderer — who beat a woman to death with a dumbell during a 1981 burglary — could lead a productive life behind bars. The high court’s ruling reinstates the jury’s verdict imposing the death penalty.