California: Mercy?

Gov. Jerry Brown is reported to be "giving strong consideration" to a clemency petition from Shirley Ree Smith, a 51-year-old grandmother sentenced to 15 years to life in 1997 for causing the death of a child. The conviction (for shaking her infant grandson to death) was overturned by an appeals court but reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court. So, the clemency petition "relies heavily" on a dissent written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and signed by Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. See more on this fascinating case here.