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California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he will spare the lives of 548 inmates currently on the state’s death row, effectively clearing capital punishment in the state years after issuing an executive moratorium on executions.
In a letter to constituents, Newsom, a Democrat, declared the state’s capital punishment system fundamentally flawed, error-prone, and morally incompatible with California’s core values.
“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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California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he will commute the death sentences for all 548 of the state’s death row inmates. (Fred Greaves/Reuters)
Under the executive action, all death sentences will be converted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The move comes amid renewed national conversations surrounding capital punishment following a botched execution in Tennessee involving death row inmate Christa Pike.
California has not carried out an execution since 2006. Shortly after taking office in 2019, Newsom placed an official moratorium on executions and ordered the dismantling of the execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison.
The decision drew immediate criticism from victims’ rights advocates, including Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter, Polly, was kidnapped and murdered in 1993.
Her killer, Richard Allen Davis, remains on death row.
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The father of Polly Klaas, Marc Klaas, heavily criticized California Gov. Gavin Newsom amid reports that he is considering a mass commutation of the state’s death row inmates. Richard Allen Davis, who was convicted for the 1993 death of Polly Klaas, was sentenced to death by a judge. (Polly Klaas Foundation; AP)
“He just gave the gift of life to [hundreds of] people who took the gift of life from their victims,” Klaas told Fox News Digital, expressing disappointment over the decision. “I don’t understand his rationale behind it… but it’s probably the same old tired stuff that he said when he did his moratorium.”
“He has definitely secured the serial killer vote now,” he added.
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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)
Conversely, anti-death penalty advocates strongly praised the move.
“The silence after the very breath of a human is violently wrestled out of them is deafening,” Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual adviser to death row inmates, said in a statement reported by The Sacramento Bee.
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“I’ve heard it 14 times. Today, Governor Newsom has courageously chosen to break that silence. These commutations represent the height of moral leadership,” he added. “Cruelty laid down. Now, I’m left with one prayer: God, don’t let any of the governors in the other executing states get any sleep until they find the ethical stamina to follow Newsom’s lead.”