California Gov. Gavin Newsom commutes all death sentences

By David K. Li and Erik Ortiz

LOS ANGELES (NBC News) -- Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted all California death sentences on Thursday, 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 will impact the “548 people now under death sentence in California,” making for “the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere.”

There were 561 inmates on death row as of Tuesday, according to Department of Corrections records.

California’s now-former death row prisoners include Richard Allen Davis, who was convicted in the murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993.

Klaas had been abducted at knifepoint from her home in Petaluma, north of San Francisco, during a slumber party. The case drew national attention after it triggered a massive search that eventually led investigators to Davis, who then directed police to the girl’s body in a shallow grave.

Marc Klaas, Polly’s father, said Newsom’s decision is a “knife in the back” to him and other victims’ families who believe death row prisoners were lawfully sentenced.

“It’s unbelievably disappointing,” Klaas told NBC News. “I was told that when this guy was sentenced to death that this was a system we can trust. But here we are, 33 years later, and it’s a system we can’t trust.”

Newsom’s action was embraced by death penalty abolitionists, human rights advocates and faith communities.

“This is a day that will be remembered in California’s history and resonate globally for years to come,” Amnesty International USA Executive Director Nadia Daar said in a statement.

“The death penalty should be abolished, everywhere. Today marks a significant moment for human rights in California and across the country,” Daar said.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ended a brief pause in capital punishment with its landmark 1976 ruling in Gregg v. Georgia, there have been 1,687 state executions, according to Death Penalty Information Center records.

Texas has carried out the most executions in that time, 603, while California has carried out a death sentence just 13 times.

“Governor Newsom’s announcement marks a decisive moment in the history of the death penalty in the United States,” Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robin Maher said in statement. “Though other governors have granted universal clemencies, none have been at this scale.”

Newsom’s decree, for most death row inmates, would still need the approval of the California Supreme Court.

Newsom is frequently mentioned as a possible presidential candidate for 2028, and the timing of this announcement isn’t lost on Klaas.

“We’re talking about serial killers, we’re talking about spree killers, we’re talking about cop killers, we’re talking about child killers,” Klaas said. “Why, two days after the midterms, does Gavin Newsom feel the need to commute these sentences? Who benefits from this?”