Gov. Gavin Newsom commutes sentences for 548 California death row inmates
newsNov 5, 202679136
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced he has commuted the death sentences of all 548 people on the state’s death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Newsom made the move in a three-page letter to "all Californians," writing "I have decided to exercise my constitutional clemency authority to commute all California death sentences to life without the possibility of parole" and saying state-sanctioned killing is "incompatible with California's values." The decision comes as Newsom nears the end of his second and final four-year term and after he declared a moratorium on executions in March 2019. California last executed a prisoner in 2006 under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, yet the state still holds the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere. Newsom cited recent high-profile controversies over executions, including the failed Tennessee execution of Christa Pike on September 30 and public debate around a planned firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan, as part of the national context. Observers noted this is the largest mass commutation of death sentences in modern U.S. history and that the action removes roughly one-quarter of the nation’s death sentences. The commutations could prompt legal challenges and will prevent future governors from ordering executions of those 548 people under their current death sentences.
