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District attorneys and law enforcement unions across California have publicly condemned Gov. Gavin Newsom following his announcement to commute the sentences of 548 death row inmates, a decision one prosecutor called a slap in the face to victims’ families.
Newsom’s sweeping order to commute the condemned inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole has drawn intense criticism alongside praise from anti-death penalty advocates.
“I think it’s all about politics, sadly. Politics is over people in this case, and that’s a real sad state of affairs,” San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow told Fox News Digital.
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Law enforcement officials and prosecutors have criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom for issuing a blanket commutation for all of California’s death row inmates. (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images/Frazer Harrison/WireImage)
In an open letter detailing his decision, Newsom said California’s capital punishment system is fundamentally at odds with the state’s principles.
“After nearly 30 years in public office, I have come to understand the limits of what government can justly accomplish,” Newsom wrote. “I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us.”
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Upon taking office in 2019, Newsom issued an executive moratorium on capital punishment. California has not carried out an execution since 2006.
The backlash to the governor’s announcement was immediate.
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“Justice will not have been served for these victims, dozens of them in San Diego County,” said Lt. Jared Wilson, president of the San Diego Police Officers Association. “Their last memories were of these evil, evil men who took their lives. What Gavin Newsom has done is awful.”
Lt. Sam Robinson calls to open a door at San Quentin State Prison’s death row in San Quentin, Calif., on Aug. 15, 2016. The prison is California’s oldest penitentiary and houses the state’s only death row for men with 700 condemned inmates. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Wilson and other law enforcement officials strongly criticized the blanket clemency, citing cases like that of Jesse Michael Gomez, who was sentenced to death for the 2016 murder of San Diego police officer Jonathan “J.D.” De Guzman.
“Californians have been asked on two separate ballot initiatives to abolish the death penalty, and both times they have chosen to keep it for the most serious crimes,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman. “Until the law is changed, my office will continue to evaluate every death penalty-eligible case with the rigor, care, and restraint these decisions demand.”
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Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer called the commutations “mercy for the wolves … while inflicting the ultimate act of cruelty on the sheep,” saying voters in California have upheld the death penalty in recent years.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who previously ran for governor, noted that 127 inmates on California’s death row were sentenced for crimes committed in his county.
“These sentences were not handed down without due process,” he said. “They followed extensive investigations, lengthy trials, evidence presented in court, and decisions made by juries and judges.
“Yet, with one sweeping executive decision, the governor has chosen to override those outcomes, disregarding the voices of victims’ families, the work of prosecutors, and the pursuit of justice that took years to achieve.”
College students Rachel Newhouse and Aundria Crawford were both killed separately. Their killer, Rex Krebs, was sentenced to death for the brutal slayings. (San Luis Obispo County District Attorney)
Among the 548 inmates whose sentences were commuted are two men convicted in San Luis Obispo County: Michael Whisenhunt, 61, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of his girlfriend’s 1-year-old daughter, Kesha Gurke; and Rex Krebs, 60, who was convicted in the brutal slayings of two female college students.
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Dow noted that families of the victims were neither consulted nor notified prior to Newsom’s public announcement.
“I was just sickened, frankly, for the crime victims in California who were slapped in the face by our governor,” Dow said.
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Addressing arguments from anti-death penalty groups who contend that capital punishment is inherently flawed and racially biased, Dow defended the current legal framework.
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“We have a rigorous defense procedure that weeds out cases. I have strong confidence in the integrity of our convictions,” he said.