Gavin Newsom lets all of California’s 548 death row inmates escape ultimate punishment

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Gov. Gavin Newsom dropped a bombshell move on Thursday to commute all 548 death-row inmates in California.

In a letter to Californians, Newsom said that he understood that victims are angry at the horrendousness of the inmates’ crimes.

“But as Governor, I have concluded the state cannot morally kill them,” he wrote.  “We can now let these offenders die in obscurity while we forever remember and honor their victims.”

“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,” Newsom explained.

“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.”

Newsom said the decision to mass commute was one of the “most difficult” in his career, and he said he’s deeply aware how it will trigger unpleasant memories of victims’ surviving family members.

“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,” the Democratic governor said. “I hold this painful truth along with the belief that this is a righteous action.”

In his long-winded letter, Newsom said he ruled out the idea of not commuting inmates with the “worst of the worst” crimes.

“I carefully considered different categories of capital crimes and offender characteristics. I have learned, however, from speaking with the victims harmed by these crimes, that each experiences their loss as the worst of the worst,” he said.

“I have concluded that attempting to distinguish among crimes and offenders for clemency would inadvertently create two classes of murder victims—those whose perpetrators deserve the death penalty and then the rest.”

Conversations over the mass clemency for some of the state’s most notorious criminals ramped up after Tennessee’s botched execution of Christa Pike, which went horribly wrong when two doses of the highly potent sedative pentobarbital failed to kill her, The New York Times reported.

The decision could influence the national public image of Newsom, who is eyeing a White House run in 2028.

California has not carried out an execution since 2006, even though it houses the nation’s largest death-row population. That’s partially because Newsom introduced the state’s moratorium on executions through an executive order in 2019.

Despite the moratorium, prosecutors in California are still able to seek the death penalty. More than 200 people have received a death sentence in California since the last execution in 2006, CalMatters reported.

Newsom in his letter said he respected the fact that Californians actually voted in the past to keep the death penalty on the books.

“But the constitution also gave every governor clemency authority, and that power exists for moments when law as applied cannot be squared with justice. For me, this is that moment,” Newsom added.

Pressure was growing for the governor to enact a mass death-row commutation even before the Pike incident, though the California Supreme Court would have to approve commutations for people with multiple felony convictions.

A mass commutation in California could slash the total number of condemned inmates across the country by more than a quarter.

Of the 548 people on death row, 529 of them are men. Around 45 of them would be immediately subject to execution without Newsom’s moratorium, according to the governor’s office.

A commutation could spare the likes of Richard Allen Davis — convicted in 1996 of kidnapping and murdering 12-year-old Polly Klaas — and serial killer Charles Ng, who was convicted of 11 first-degree murders, among other condemned criminals in the Golden State.

The governor said he will take all the backlash.

“I also acknowledge that this clemency action will anger and hurt some Californians. This will always weigh heavily on me. As Governor, I alone bear responsibility for this decision and its impact, just as I alone would bear responsibility for each execution,” he concluded.

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