Newsom Moves to Commute All 548 California Death Sentences; State Supreme Court Must Sign Off on 382

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday, November 5, moved to commute every death sentence in the state to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His office announced that he “plans to change all California death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.”

The action covers 548 people, 529 men and 19 women, according to AP and The Marshall Project, which cite the governor’s office. It isn’t final for most of them: 382 cases need the California Supreme Court’s recommendation before the governor can act.

The court step: article V, section 8

Under article V, section 8, subdivision (a) of the California Constitution, the governor can’t grant a pardon or commutation to a person twice convicted of a felony without a recommendation from the state Supreme Court, with at least four of the seven justices concurring. In a filing titled “Explanatory Statement – Proposed Death Penalty Clemency Action”, Newsom “requests the Court’s recommendation” for “the 382 condemned persons convicted of more than one felony.”

That leaves roughly 166 people whose commutations don’t need the court. That figure is our own arithmetic (548 − 382), not a number the governor’s office has published. Unconfirmed: we couldn’t confirm whether those roughly 166 commutations have already been signed and taken effect. No date has been set for the Supreme Court to rule on the other 382.

What the commutation would and wouldn’t do

According to the explanatory statement, every recipient would get “the same unconditional commutation”: life without the possibility of parole. It would apply “only to the death sentence imposed,” leave the convictions unchanged and “leave in place all restitution orders.” The statement says recipients would remain in prison and be ineligible for parole. CalMatters reports that Newsom said they also won’t be eligible for the Board of Parole Hearings’ new commutation and resentencing process.

Newsom’s reasoning

The BBC, quoting Newsom’s open letter, reports he wrote that “state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations of our legal system and diminishes each of us.” The Marshall Project reports that the letter says he chose not to exclude anyone, because carving out exceptions would “inadvertently create two classes of murder victims.”

Critics

Anne Marie Schubert, CEO of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation and a former prosecutor, told CalMatters her group would challenge the proposed commutations in the state Supreme Court. She said victims’ families weren’t notified and called the move “the most grotesque violation of victims’ rights I’ve ever seen.”

Before the announcement, the California District Attorneys Association urged Newsom on October 23 to reject a blanket commutation. “Reasonable people can disagree about capital punishment,” CDAA CEO Greg Totten said. “But decisions of this magnitude should not be made through a sweeping, one-size-fits-all action that ignores the facts of individual cases.” CDAA president Jeannine M. Pacioni said, “Those families placed their trust in our justice system.”

Background

Newsom placed a moratorium on executions in 2019, according to AP, and California hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, according to the BBC. Newsom’s term ends in January.