California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he will use his clemency power to replace the death sentences of all 548 people on the state's death row with life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Newsom laid out the decision in an open letter, arguing that executions carried out by the state clash with California's values and erode the foundation of its legal system. He called life without parole the harshest punishment available to him through clemency.
Many Californians feel that those who commit brutal crimes deserve to die. But as Governor, I have concluded the state cannot morally kill them,
Gavin Newsom, governor of California
The action does not abolish capital punishment. Prosecutors can still pursue it in future cases, and Newsom said those choices will stay in the hands of prosecutors, juries and judges.
Some of the commutations cannot take effect on the governor's signature alone. Under the state constitution, a governor needs the California Supreme Court's approval before granting clemency to anyone convicted of more than one felony, so a number of cases will go to the court for review.
The move runs against a record of ballot decisions. Voters defeated Proposition 34, an abolition measure, in 2012, then turned down repeal again in 2016 with Proposition 62 while narrowly passing Proposition 66, which aimed to speed up capital cases.
No one has been executed in California since 2006. Newsom halted executions with a moratorium soon after he became governor in 2019.
Los Angeles County Public Defender Ricardo García welcomed the commutations, noting that his office had pressed for clemency for everyone on death row because of what he called deep inequities in how the penalty is applied.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer condemned the decision, saying it overrides jury verdicts and disregards the wishes of victims' families. He said his prosecutors would keep pursuing death sentences when they judge a case calls for one.
