California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to commute all death sentences

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he intends to commute all California death sentences, declaring that “state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with” values in America’s most populous state.

In an open letter to constituents, Newsom said taking this step is “among the most difficult of my career.”

“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values,” he said.

California has not put a prisoner to death since Jan. 17, 2006, when Clarence Ray Allen was executed via lethal injection.

Newsom said his executive action would impact the “548 people now under death sentence in California,” making for “the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere.” The move, however, requires the state Supreme Court to approve resentencing in those cases where the person has more than one felony conviction, which Newsom said amounts to 382 of the prisoners on death row.

“I 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,” Newsom, who is term-limited and leaves office in January, wrote in a letter Thursday to the justices.

There were 561 inmates on death row as of Tuesday, according…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health