California Gov. Newsom says he will commute all death sentences in state
to life without parole
[November 06, 2026]
By SOPHIE AUSTIN, JAIMIE DING and CHRISTOPHER WEBER
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday
that he’ll change more than 500 death sentences in the state to life in
prison without the possibility of parole, though the state Supreme Court
will have the final say in hundreds of those cases.
“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 said
in a public letter.
Newsom’s decision comes as he prepares to leave office after eight years
and considers a run for president. The Democrat, who’s long been opposed
to the death penalty, placed a moratorium on executions in California in
2019.
His latest move came after he realized “the limits of what government
can justly accomplish,” he said.
Newsom moved to grant clemency to 548 people currently sentenced to
death in California, of whom 529 are men and 19 are women, according to
numbers provided by his office.
The state constitution requires the California Supreme Court’s approval
to grant clemency to anyone convicted of a felony more than once, which
means the court would have to approve 382 of those commutations, or
roughly 70%, according to Newsom's office.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Newsom’s action
represents the largest mass clemency in American history. If they are
all approved, it would reduce the U.S. death row population by nearly
30%, the center said.
California voters upheld the death penalty
Americans have long been divided over the death penalty. Nearly half of
U.S. states have banned capital punishment outright, but executions are
still carried out routinely around the country. On Thursday alone,
Florida, Alabama and Indiana carried out lethal injections.
Californians voted to uphold the death penalty in 2012 and 2016 ballot
measures. No one has been executed in the state since 2006 and
California has the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere.
Among the most notorious convicted killers on California’s death row are
Richard Allen Davis, who kidnapped and murdered 12-year-old Polly Klaas
in 1993, and Randy Kraft, the so-called “Scorecard Killer” who kept a
list of his 16 victims in the 1970s and ’80s. Other prominent killers,
including Scott Peterson and the Manson family members, received death
sentences that were later commuted to life in prison.
Jess Nichol, Klaas' sister, said she previously believed Davis deserved
the death penalty, but her views evolved.
“The system tells survivors that execution matters to our healing,”
Nichol said in a statement. “It doesn’t. It’s a distraction from what we
actually need.”
Newsom said the decision was among the most difficult choices of his
career because it will surface painful memories for crime victims’
families.
“As Governor, I alone bear responsibility for this decision and its
impact, just as I alone would bear responsibility for each execution,”
Newsom wrote.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which has said the implementation of
the death penalty reflects racial bias, applauded the announcement.
“These commutations reflect what justice demands: an end to a racist,
error-prone, and inhumane punishment that has burdened California for
far too long,” Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a statement.
The ACLU is involved in an ongoing legal challenge to California’s death
penalty statute, alleging it is racially discriminatory and
unconstitutional.
Victims' groups and prosecutors decry the decision
Patricia Wenskunas, founder of the California advocacy nonprofit Crime
Survivors, which opposed the abolition of the death penalty, criticized
Newsom's decision.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom attends a rally with members of the
state's Democratic Party, organized labor, and other advocates in
San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Heather Diehl)
“My heart hurts for every one of the victims and every one of their
family members,” she said, calling the decision “offensive” and
“outrageous.”
Steve Herr, whose son Sam Herr was murdered along with his friend Julie
Kibuishi by Daniel Wozniak in 2010, said he was “absolutely disgusted”
by the governor's decision. He said the death of his son's killer would
have meant closure.
“When somebody commits such a heinous crime, they do not deserve to
live,” Herr said. “To hear what Newsom just did … he’s just an outright
coward.”
The California District Attorneys Association condemned the decision.
Last month, the group sent a letter to Newsom expressing “grave
concerns” about him considering the move and warning that such a
sweeping action would inflict additional pain on victims’ relatives.
“With 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,” CDAA President Jeannine M.
Pacioni said in a statement. “The victims were never given a
commutation. Their families were never given a choice. They deserve far
better than this.”
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow called the move a
“sickening abuse of power.”
Dow referenced Rachel Newhouse and Aundria Crawford, two women who were
kidnapped, raped and murdered by Rex Allan Krebs in 1999, and Kesha
Gurke, a 19-month-old girl tortured and murdered by Michael Whisenhunt
in 1995.
“San Luis Obispo County juries sentenced both men to death. A unanimous
California Supreme Court affirmed both judgments. Their families have
waited decades for the State of California to keep its word. Today, the
Governor broke it,” Dow said.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer also condemned the
decision, calling it “mercy for the wolves and while inflicting the
ultimate act of cruelty on the sheep.”
Other governors have taken similar actions
Newsom has said in the past that it is wrong for the government to kill
its citizens and that capital punishment in practice has discriminated
against mentally ill people and people of color.
Other governors have granted broad clemency to all death row prisoners
in their states, including Gov. Kate Brown in Oregon in 2022 and Gov.
Jared Polis in Colorado in 2020. Both are Democrats. In 1986, then-New
Mexico Gov. Toney Anaya, a Democrat, commuted the death sentences of all
five inmates then on death row.
In 2024, President Joe Biden also granted clemency to 37 out of 40
federal prisoners sentenced to death.
Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who will take over from Newsom in January,
has said he will extend the state’s moratorium on the death penalty.
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Ding and Weber reported from Los Angeles.
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