Gov. Newsom commutes sentences of California's 548 death row inmates

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

69% : According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Newsom's action represents the largest mass clemency in American history.
47% : "Do I commute the largest death row in the western hemisphere?
46% : If they are all approved, it would reduce the U.S. death row population by nearly 30%, the center said.
45% : "By taking this step, Gov. Newsom has affirmed that the death penalty has no place in California and he showed real courage by confronting racialized injustice head-on.
42% : " Democratic strategist Dan Newman, who advises the governor, said Newsom has remained consistent through the years in his opposition to the death penalty.
41% : Newsom said the decision to commute death row inmates' sentences was "among the most difficult" in his career.
39% : " Specifically, Wagstaffe said that in 2016, California voters rejected a repeal on the death penalty.
39% : He noted that eliminating the death sentence is not lenient by any means.
37% : Other governors have granted broad clemency to all death row prisoners in their states, including Gov. Kate Brown in Oregon in 2022 and Gov. Jared Polis in Colorado in 2020.
37% : "We are absolutely disgusted that this governor would be contemplating and most likely doing the commutation of people that are on death row when a judge and a jury have decided that that is the penalty," said Topo Padilla of Crime Victims United.
37% : Last execution in California was in 2006 The backstory: The last person to be executed in California was Clarence Ray Allen, an inmate at San Quentin State Prison who died by lethal injection on Jan. 17, 2006.
34% : " Death row sentences commuted What they're saying: "I have decided to exercise my constitutional clemency authority to commute all California death sentences to life without the possibility of parole," Newsom said in a letter shared Thursday.
34% : " The prospect of a blanket commutation drew sharp pushback last month from death penalty advocates.
33% : Bay Area death row inmates By the numbers: The Bay Area has sentenced 50 people who are currently on death row, according to the CDCR.
31% : SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced he's commuting all death sentences in California, changing the state's 548 death row inmates' sentences to life without the possibility of parole.
19% : Newsom hinted at possible commutation in October Dig deeper: On the podcast, the governor mentioned the botched execution of Tennessee inmate Christa Pike, who received lethal injections twice - but lived.
9% : Among the death row inmates - Richard Farley, who killed seven people in a mass shooting in Sunnyvale in 1988, Robert Fairbanks, convicted of torturing and killing a San Francisco State University student in 1985, and Yosemite serial killer Cary Stayner. * Alberto Alvarez * Robert Bacon * James Beck * Erven Blacksher * Steven Bonilla * Nathan Burris * Celeste Carrington * Gerald Cruz * Tomas Cruz * James Daveggio * Rick Davis * Alex Demolle * Christopher Evans * Robert Fairbanks * Richard Farley * Melvin Forte * Robert Frazier * Jack Friend * Alexander Hamilton * Glenn Helzer * Christopher Henriquez * Eric Houston * Laverne Johnson * Willie Johnson * Keith Lewis * Bobby Lopez * Delaney Marks * Jarvis Masters * Michelle Michaud * Douglas Mickey * Desiree Mickle * Carl Molano * Giles Nadey * Joseph Naso * Michael Pearson * Irving Ramirez * Guy Rowland * Ramon Salcido * John Sapp * Robert Scully * Christopher Spencer * Cary Stayner * Charles Stevens * Arturo Suarez * Alex Thomas * John Travis * Darnell Washington * Corey Williams * Grayland Winbush * Edward Wycoff

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