In the final months of his last term, Gov. Gavin Newsom moved to reduce all 548 death penalty sentences across California to life without the possibility of parole on Thursday. It is considered the largest prisoner commutation in U.S. history. But, the decision has brought widespread condemnation from law enforcement agencies in Riverside and San Bernardino County.
Newsom wrote in an open letter that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, adding that the death penalty “undermines the foundations of our legal system.”
“I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system,” Newsom wrote.
Prior to this decision, California had the largest number of individuals under a death sentence. Riverside County alone has the second largest number of active death sentences in the state, while San Bernardino County has 39 people who are condemned prisoners.
Riverside’s District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a statement that Newsom made the decision without notifying District Attorney offices across the state and that he wrongfully injected politics into California’s criminal justice system.
“The Governor has a responsibility to serve all Californians, including those whose lives have been changed by violent crime,” Hestrin wrote. “Today’s action falls far short of that responsibility.
Similarly, in a social media statement, San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said the governor’s decision was based on political aspirations and that the mass commutations ignored victims and their families of constitutional rights.
“The governor is concerned with politics, not people,” Anderson wrote.
Both Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus also criticized the move.
But Kate Chatfield, the executive director of the California Public Defender's Association, said that racial biases and financial biases play a role in determining death penalty sentences.
“Virtually everyone on death row is poor,” Chatfield said.
She said sentences can also be harsher depending on where someone lives.
“A person who commits the same crime in a different county before a different district attorney faces a different risk of being put to death,” Chatfield wrote. “The death penalty is broken beyond measure.”
People on death row with more than one felony conviction must have their commutations approved by the California Supreme Court before taking effect according to Newsom’s statement.