California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he will use his clemency powers to convert the death sentences of all 548 people on the state’s death row to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He announced the move in an open letter, citing his constitutional authority.
What Newsom says he’s doing—and why
In his letter, 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.” He called it one of the hardest decisions of his career and said he alone would accept responsibility for it.
Newsom added that he respects that capital punishment remains available under state law but said he has concluded the system cannot be applied fairly. He also wrote that he had spoken with victims and decided that picking and choosing among cases would create unequal categories of victims.
Hundreds require court approval
According to the announcement, roughly 382 of the commutations must be approved by the California Supreme Court because those individuals were convicted of more than one felony. Newsom asked the court to rule before the end of the year so the changes can take effect before he leaves office in January.
Death penalty still on the books
The step does not repeal capital punishment in California. Voters rejected a 2016 ballot measure to abolish it, and prosecutors can still seek death sentences in new cases. Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in 2019. The state has not executed anyone since 2006.
Pushback from prosecutors and victims’ families
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Newsom’s power covers only existing sentences and does not allow him to abolish the death penalty itself, Fox News reported.
The California District Attorneys Association criticized the move as overriding jury verdicts and ignoring the impact on victims’ families, according to KXTV-TV.
Rep. Ken Calvert called the action “a slap in the face to the families of victims” and “an insult to the majority of Californians who have voted to impose the death penalty,” in a statement posted on X.
Sandy Friend—whose 8-year-old son Michael Lyons was abducted, raped, and fatally stabbed in 1996 by Robert Rhoades, who was sentenced to death—told the Sacramento Bee the news caused “a deep, soul-hurting pain.” “Governor Newsom commuted every death sentence in California, and no one contacted me first,” she said. “He didn’t even take the time to look at each case, or to sit down with the family members who are affected.”
High-profile names cited by commentators
Breaking911 described the announcement as “the largest mass commutation in modern U.S. history” in a post on X.
Commentator Collin Rugg said on X that the commutations include Richard Allen Davis, convicted in the 1993 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas.
Commentator Stu Smith listed several death-row inmates he said were affected and highlighted Joseph Martin Danks, known as the Koreatown Slasher, attributing to public records that Danks killed six men in 1986–87 and later murdered a cellmate; he received a death sentence in 1993. Smith also named two men he identified as members of white supremacist gangs—Todd Givens and Billy Joe Johnson—as among those whose sentences Newsom is seeking to commute. These are claims by Smith on X.
Scale and context
The Western Journal report said the move would empty what it described as the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere. Newsom is term-limited and leaves office in January.
