California Gov. Gavin Newsom has commuted the death sentences of all 548 people on the state’s death row, changing their punishments to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Newsom announced the decision Thursday, in an open letter to Californians, saying he was exercising his constitutional clemency authority after concluding that the death penalty was incompatible with the state’s values and justice system.
Some of those sentenced to death include California’s most notorious convicted killers, including Richard Allen Davis, who kidnapped and murdered 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993, Cary Stayner, who killed 4 women near Yosemite National Park in 1999, and Charles Ng, who was convicted of 11 murders committed during the 1980s.
The governor said California’s system for administering capital punishment had failed to ensure fair outcomes and had resulted in the conviction of innocent people. He also argued that decades of efforts to repair the system had not resolved its problems.
“These offenders will die in prison but not by our hand,” Newsom wrote, explaining that every person currently under a death sentence would receive the same commutation.
The decision follows Newsom’s 2019 order imposing a moratorium on executions in California. No one has been executed in the state since 2006, but death sentences remained in place for hundreds of inmates.
Newsom acknowledged that the move would be painful for some victims’ families and said he had considered their views before making the decision. He argued that granting different levels of clemency based on the crimes committed would create separate categories of murder victims.
The governor also clarified that the action does not abolish the death penalty in California. Voters have kept capital punishment in state law, and repealing it remains a decision for the Legislature and voters.
The commutations apply only to people currently sentenced to death. Prosecutors, juries and courts will retain their authority to seek and impose death sentences in future cases.