Newsom Moves to Commute All 548 California Death Sentences
California Gov. Gavin Newsom moved to change all 548 death sentences to life without parole; the state Supreme Court must approve many of them.
Every person under a death sentence in California would instead serve life in prison without the possibility of parole under a clemency action Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday in an open letter to the state’s residents.
The governor’s office said the move covers 548 people, 529 men and 19 women. It does not release anyone, overturn any conviction or make anyone eligible for parole, and existing restitution orders stay in place, according to Scripps News.
Court approval still required
Under the California Constitution, the state Supreme Court must approve clemency for anyone convicted of more than one felony, the Associated Press reported. The Marshall Project said that group makes up more than half of those affected, so the justices will decide whether many of the commutations take effect. If they are approved, the outlet said, it would be the largest mass commutation of death sentences in U.S. history and would cut the nation’s death row population by nearly a third.
The governor’s reasoning
In the letter, Newsom wrote that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values and called the state’s system for administering capital punishment a failure that has led to the conviction of innocent people, according to the BBC. He acknowledged the decision would anger some residents and victims’ families and wrote that he alone bears responsibility for it.
California has not carried out an execution since January 2006. Newsom placed a moratorium on executions shortly after taking office in 2019. The death penalty itself can be repealed only by voters, so prosecutors may continue to seek it, the Marshall Project noted.
Newsom, who is term-limited, leaves office in January. Democrat Xavier Becerra, who won Tuesday’s election for governor, will succeed him; he has said he would extend the moratorium, according to the Marshall Project.
Developing: The California Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the commutations that require its approval.
Sources: Office of the Governor of California, The Associated Press, The Marshall Project, BBC News, Scripps News
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