Newsom Moves to Commute California’s 548 Death Sentences

In a letter reported by The Sacramento Bee, Newsom said state-sanctioned killing conflicts with California’s values and the legal system’s commitment to justice. He called the decision one of the most difficult of his career, but also “a righteous action.” California has the largest death row in the United States and the Western Hemisphere, his letter said. The Death Penalty Information Center places Newsom among a dozen state and federal leaders to grant sweeping clemency to death row prisoners since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

The commutations are not automatic for all prisoners. Newsom can commute sentences for people convicted of a single felony, but requests involving multiple convictions need approval from four of the California Supreme Court’s seven justices. There is no deadline for the court. If requests are not approved before Newsom leaves office on January 3, 2027, they lapse, according to attorney Natasha Minsker, an anti-death penalty advocate. Gov.-elect Xavier Becerra has pledged to maintain Newsom’s 2019 execution moratorium and could continue seeking to change the sentences to life without parole.

Civil rights groups, faith leaders, business executives, victims’ relatives, former corrections professionals and ex-prosecutors had urged Newsom to act. ACLU executive director Anthony Romero praised the move, calling the death penalty racist and error-prone; Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative said he hoped other state officials would follow Newsom’s lead. Jeanne Woodford, a former San Quentin warden who presided over four executions, cited the risk of executing an innocent person. Since 1973, more than 200 people nationwide, including eight in California, have been released from death row after being found innocent, she said.

The move would also spare prisoners convicted of notorious crimes, including Richard Allen Davis, who murdered 12-year-old Polly Klaas, Cary Stayner and serial killer Charles Ng. Klaas’s relatives are divided: her father, Marc Klaas, criticized Newsom’s 2019 moratorium, while her stepsister, Jess Nichol, has supported the commutations. Nichol said execution had no bearing on her recovery or public safety. Newsom’s decision has drawn national attention as opponents plan an advertising campaign praising him; strategist Dan Newman said it could also benefit the governor in a 2028 presidential campaign.