The Supreme Court rejected a petition from the California Attorney General's office to revoke a stay of execution issued by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the Kevin Cooper case.

The 9-2 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco left Cooper's fate up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which had the power to lift the appeals court's stay of execution. Even before the appeals court acted, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office asked the high court to undo a temporary stay of execution that the appellate court had imposed Monday morning.

The appeals court ordered the case returned to a federal judge in San Diego for Cooper's lawyers for testing of evidence that, Cooper claimed, would demonstrate his innocence.

"No person should be executed if there is a doubt about his or her guilt and an easily available test will determine guilt or innocence,'' the court majority wrote, adding that the tests should be conducted promptly.

Update: What's next for Kevin Cooper? Criminal Appeal has some thoughts.