What is the legal test for determining the length of an indeterminate sentence in a criminal case?

To begin with, the initial, and most obvious, indication of the nature of the sentence established by the statute flows from the "25 years to life" language utilized in the provision. As already noted, this statutory terminology is precisely the language that has been commonly and uniformly utilized in this state to denote an indeterminate sentence. As this court observed nearly a half-century ago: "It is a well-recognized rule of construction that after the courts have construed the meaning of any particular word, or expression, and the legislature subsequently undertakes to use these exact words in the same connection, the presumption is almost irresistible that it used them in the precise and technical sense which had been placed upon them by the courts." (City of Long Beach v. Payne (1935) 3 Cal.2d 184, 191, 44 P.2d 305.)