Associate Justice Martin J. Jenkins will retire from the California Supreme Court at the end of October after five years with the court and more than 35 years of judicial service.

Subscription required) Taxpayer groups told the state high court that San Jose's $3.5 billion pension obligation bonds required a public vote. Several justices questioned that claim, suggesting the city was merely restructuring an existing debt.

(Subscription required) Appellate advocates urged the justices to require ability-to-pay hearings and shift the proof burden to prosecutors. The state countered that defendants are best positioned to show inability to pay and that the seriousness of the offense is a key factor.

Div. Four of this district’s Court of Appeal held yesterday that a defendant, who was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison for a murder he committed when he was 17 years old, is entitled to a resentencing hearing because he committed the crime with an adult—one of the relief-triggering factors under the statutory scheme—even if the other party later had her conviction for the killing overturned.