Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

It means the person will actually have to serve fifty years in prison before the Parole Board will even consider releasing him. Very few people convicted of murder are ever paroled, so this is probably the same result as a sentence of life without possibility of parole.

I am wondering how you get to the 50-life figure. The sentence for first degree murder is 25-life. If the person had two prior strike felonies, it would be doubled to 50-life. If there were two separate victims, the defendant could get two consecutive 25-life sentences.

You could also arrive at a 50 year sentence if the defendant had other charges or enhancements. In that case, the defendant could earn 15% good time credits against the determinate part of the sentence, which is the part that is not a life sentence, but would have to serve the full 25 years on the part of the sentence attributed to the murder charge. Even in that case, it would still be 46 years before the person even became eligible for parole and there would be no guarantee of release at that time.