Governor Gavin Newsom says he will commute the death sentences of all 548 inmates currently condemned to execution in California to serve life in prison without eligibility for parole.
Mr Newman, whose second and final four-year term as governor will soon end and who is expected to seek the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 2028, announced this in a three-page letter addressed to Californians.
The governor said he was “acting on my long and deeply held conviction that individually and collectively we are stronger as a society when we reject state-sanctioned killing”.
Acknowledging that death row inmates caused “indescribable suffering”, and that “many Californians feel that those who commit brutal crimes deserve to die”, Mr Newsom stated, “But as governor, I have concluded the state cannot morally kill them. These offenders will die in prison, but not by our hand.”
Mr Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco and lieutenant governor, had declared a moratorium on executions back in March 2019, about two months after becoming governor.
Under California’s constitution, the state’s Supreme Court reviews clemency granted to any offender convicted twice of a felony.
The last time a prisoner was put to death was in 2006, when Republican and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor.
Also in 2016, California voters upheld the death penalty by rejecting a referendum to abolish executions.