Gavin Newsom lets all of California’s 548 death row inmates escape ultimate punishment

Gov. Gavin Newsom dropped a bombshell move on Thursday to commute all 548 death row inmates in California.

In a letter to Californians, Newsom said that he understood that victims are angry at the horrendousness of the inmate’s crimes.

“But as Governor, I have concluded the state cannot morally kill them,” he wrote.  “We can now let these offenders die in obscurity while we forever remember and honor their victims.”

“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,” Newsom explained.

“I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency.”

Newsom said the decision to mass commute was one of the “most difficult” in his career, and he said he’s deeply aware how it will trigger unpleasant memories of victims’ suriviving family members.

“I deeply respect the views of those who will strongly disagree with my decision, including some families of victims who have suffered the worst possible loss,” the Democratic governor said. “I hold this painful truth along with the belief that this is a righteous action.”

In his long-winded letter, Newsom said he ruled out the idea of not commuting inmates with the “worst of the worst” crimes.

“I carefully considered different categories of capital crimes and offender characteristics. I have learned, however, from speaking with the victims harmed by these crimes, that each experiences their loss as the worst of the worst,” he said.

“I have concluded that attempting to distinguish among crimes and offenders for clemency would inadvertently create two classes of murder victims—those whose perpetrators deserve the death penalty and then the rest.”

Conversations over the mass clemency for some of the state’s most notorious criminals ramped up after Tennessee’s botched execution of Christa Pike, which went horribly wrong when two doses of the highly potent sedative Pentobarbital failed to kill her, the New York Times reported.

The decision could influence the national public image of Newsom, who is eyeing a White House run in 2028.

California has not carried out an execution since 2006, even though it houses the nation’s largest death row population. That’s partially because Newsom himself introduced the state’s moratorium through an executive order in 2019.

This story will be updated.

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