California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday moved to empty the state’s death row, announcing he would commute all 548 death sentences to life in prison without parole, sparing inmates, including serial killers and child murderers, from execution.
As he approaches the end of his final term, Newsom announced plans to use his clemency powers in what would be the largest mass commutation of death sentences in modern U.S. history. Writing in an open letter to Californians, Newsom said he decided on moral grounds.
“State-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system and diminishes each of us,” Newsom said. “I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency.”
“I am compelled to follow my conscience and… take this action for the welfare of the state of California,” he added.
California’s state constitution requires the state’s Supreme Court’s approval before the governor can grant clemency to anyone convicted of a felony more than once. That requirement applies to 382 of the 548 commutations, or roughly 70%, according to The Associated Press.
Newsom acknowledged the emotional toll his decision could take on victims’ families, while defending it as morally necessary.
“This decision is among the most difficult of my career, not because I doubt its necessity for our state but because I know its announcement may surface excruciating memories for victims’ families. I deeply respect the views of those who will strongly disagree with my decision, including some families of victims who have suffered the worst possible loss. I hold this painful truth along with the belief that this is a righteous action,” he said.
“Today I am acting on my long and deeply held conviction that individually and collectively we are stronger as a society when we reject state-sanctioned killing.”
Newsom’s announcement runs counter to voters’ decisions to retain capital punishment. In 2012, voters rejected Proposition 34, which would have abolished the death penalty. In 2016, Californians rejected repeal again while approving a proposal to speed up death penalty cases.
The proposed commutations would spare some of California’s most notorious killers. Among them is Charles Ng, who was convicted in 1999 of murdering six men, three women, and two male infants. Ng committed his crimes with accomplice Leonard Lake at a remote Northern California cabin.
Another man covered by the announcement is Richard Allen Farley. The convicted murderer killed seven people and wounded four others in a 1988 workplace mass shooting at ESL Inc. in Sunnyvale. He had been stalking a former co-worker.
Thursday’s move follows Newsom’s earlier efforts to halt executions. Shortly after taking office in 2019, Newsom placed a moratorium on all executions. The Golden State has not executed an inmate since 2006.
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