TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) -- The fate of nearly 800 death row inmates in Florida and eight other states may rest on the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court case that could have the most dramatic effect in 30 years on the way states apply the death penalty.

The high court agreed last month to hear a case from Arizona that asks whether a judge instead of a jury can decide whether a convicted killer deserves the death penalty.

The court's decision, expected by summer, could affect sentences already handed down in nine states where judges choose between a death sentence and life in prison for a convicted killer