{"id":229907,"date":"2026-11-06T03:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T03:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/california-gov-gavin-newsom-plans-to-commute-all-death-sentences-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T03:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T03:11:12","slug":"california-gov-gavin-newsom-plans-to-commute-all-death-sentences-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/california-gov-gavin-newsom-plans-to-commute-all-death-sentences-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to commute all death sentences – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

For You
Settings
news Alerts
There are no new alerts at this time
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he intends to commute all California death sentences, declaring that \u201cstate-sanctioned killing is incompatible with\u201d values in America\u2019s most populous state.
In an open letter to constituents, Newsom said taking the step is \u201camong the most difficult of my career.\u201d
\u201cI take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California\u2019s values,\u201d he said.
California has not put a prisoner<\/a> to death since Jan. 17, 2006, when Clarence Ray Allen was executed via lethal injection.
Newsom said his executive action would affect the \u201c548 people now under death sentence in California,\u201d making for \u201cthe largest death row in the Western Hemisphere.\u201d The move, however, requires the state Supreme Court to approve resentencing in cases in which people have more than one felony conviction, which Newsom said amounts to 382 of the prisoners on death row.
\u201cI respectfully request that the Court issue its recommendation by the end of this year so that I may act before the end of my term,\u201d Newsom, who is term-limited and leaves office in January, wrote in a letter<\/a> Thursday to the justices.
There were 561 inmates on death row as of Tuesday, according to Department of Corrections records<\/a>. In 2019, when there were 737 inmates awaiting execution in the state, Newsom ordered a moratorium on all of those cases. In a statement at the time, he said the death penalty was discriminatory, provided no public safety benefit and wasted billions.
Richard Allen Davis, who was convicted in the murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas<\/a> in 1993, <\/strong>is one of the inmates still on California\u2019s death row.
Polly had been abducted at knifepoint from her home in Petaluma, north of San Francisco, during a slumber party. The case drew national attention after it triggered a massive search that eventually led investigators to Davis, who then directed police to the girl\u2019s body in a shallow grave.
Marc Klaas, Polly\u2019s father, said Newsom\u2019s decision is a \u201cknife in the back\u201d to him and other victims\u2019 families who believe death row prisoners were lawfully sentenced.
\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievably disappointing,\u201d Klaas told NBC News. \u201cI was told that when this guy was sentenced to death that this was a system we can trust. But here we are, 33 years later, and it\u2019s a system we can\u2019t trust.\u201d
Newsom\u2019s proposal was embraced by death penalty abolitionists, human rights advocates and faith communities.
\u201cThis is a day that will be remembered in California\u2019s history and resonate globally for years to come,\u201d Amnesty International USA Executive Director Nadia Daar said in a statement.
\u201cThe death penalty should be abolished, everywhere. Today marks a significant moment for human rights in California and across the country,\u201d Daar said.
The president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers cited \u201ccountless\u201d studies that she said show that the death penalty doesn\u2019t deter crime and called the move a \u201cdecision of historic moral clarity and courage.\u201d
\u201cThe death penalty is unjust, uncivilized, and inconsistent with the fallibility of our justice system,\u201d Melissa \u201cMissy\u201d Owen said in a statement.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court ended a brief pause on capital punishment with its landmark 1976 ruling in Gregg v. Georgia<\/a>, there have been 1,687 state executions, according to Death Penalty Information Center<\/a> records.
Texas has carried out the most, 603, while California has carried out just 13.
\u201cGovernor Newsom\u2019s announcement marks a decisive moment in the history of the death penalty in the United States,\u201d Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robin Maher said in a statement. \u201cThough other governors have granted universal clemencies, none have been at this scale.\u201d
Newsom, a Democrat, is frequently mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2028<\/a>, and the timing of his announcement isn\u2019t lost on Klaas.
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about serial killers, we\u2019re talking about spree killers, we\u2019re talking about cop killers, we\u2019re talking about child killers,\u201d Klaas said. \u201cWhy, two days after the midterms<\/a>, does Gavin Newsom feel the need to commute these sentences? Who benefits from this?\u201d
In a statement, the California District Attorneys Association condemned Newsom\u2019s decision, saying he replaced individual sentencing decisions that were reached after extensive legal proceedings \u201cwith a single executive decision that makes no distinction among the crimes committed, the circumstances of the offenders or the victims whose lives were taken.\u201d
\u201cWith the stroke of a pen, Governor Newsom has disregarded the decisions of hundreds of jurors and judges, and the anguish of families who lost loved ones to the worst crimes imaginable,\u201d said the association\u2019s president, Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni.
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow said Newsom\u2019s action is an affront to the families of victims, whose killers were brought to justice by his office.
\u201cGovernor Newsom just told the families of Rachel Newhouse<\/a>, Aundria Crawford<\/a>, Kesha Gurke<\/a> and every other innocent victim of California\u2019s 548 condemned killers that the killers\u2019 lives matter more,\u201d Dow said in a statement as immediate past president <\/a>of the California District Attorneys Association.
\u201cJuries chose justice case by case, voters chose it five times, and one outgoing governor is trying to erase it all with a pen. This is a sickening abuse of power,\u201d he said.
Senior Breaking News Reporter
Erik Ortiz is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital focusing on racial injustice and social inequality.
Tim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For YouSettings news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeGov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he intends to commute all California death sentences, declaring that \u201cstate-sanctioned killing is incompatible with\u201d values in America\u2019s most populous state.In an open letter to constituents, Newsom said taking the step is \u201camong the most difficult of my career.\u201d\u201cI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":229908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}