Gavin Newsom Faces Backlash Over Decision to Commute All California Death Row Sentences — As Critics Question Timing Amid Presidential Rumors
Gavin Newsom has commuted all death sentences in California.
Nov. 5 2026, Published 6:25 p.m. ET
California Governor Gavin Newsom has taken the unprecedented step of commuting every California death sentence to a sentence of life in prison without parole, RadarOnline.com can report.
The outgoing state leader's order affects all 548 prisoners on death row in the state in what will be one of the Democrat's final acts in office.
Gavin Newsom Ends Death Sentences in California
The governor has been an outspoken opponent of capital punishment.
California has not put a prisoner to death since Jan. 17, 2006, when Clarence Ray Allen was executed via lethal injection.
However, Newsom, who many political pundits believe could be a frontrunner for president in 2028, explained in an open letter to his constituents, "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 has long been a vocal opponent of capital punishment, which he believes is "morally objectionable." The 59-year-old slammed the death penalty as "unfair, unjust (and) wasteful" in an executive order signed in 2019, which imposed a moratorium on all executions, withdrew the state’s lethal injection protocol, and closed San Quentin’s execution chamber.
If his shocking declaration survives the inevitable legal and political challenges, it would empty the nation's largest death row and eliminate about a quarter of all death sentences nationwide.
However, there are already questions about whether or not he is actually allowed to reduce every prisoner's sentence under California law.
Many Legal Questions Must Still Be Answered
There are already questions over whether he has the authority to follow through on his pledge.
According to the state constitution, the governor can only grant clemency and commute sentences for inmates who have been convicted of one felony. The California Supreme Court's approval is required to grant clemency to anyone convicted of a felony more than once.
This means the court would have to approve 382 of the commutations announced Thursday, or roughly 70 percent, according to numbers provided by Newsom's office.
Newsom admitted the decision will be met with fierce opposition, acknowledging, "The people sentenced to death in California caused indescribable suffering to victims, their families, communities, and our state as a whole. The harm they inflicted persists across generations.
"Many Californians feel that those who commit brutal crimes deserve to die. But as Governor, I have concluded the state cannot morally kill them."
Death Penalty Opponents Cheer the Annoucement
Death penalty opponents immediately cheered the decision.
Newsom went on to admit the decision was "the most difficult of my career, not because I doubt the necessity for our state but because I know its announcement may surface excruciating memories for victims' families."
The politician explained, "Today I am acting on my long and deeply held conviction that individually and collectively we are stronger as a society when we reject state-sanctioned killing."
As expected, his announcement was met with immediate mixed reactions.
"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."
Victim Family Members Call Announcement 'Unbelievably Disappointing'
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Family members of victims slammed Newsom's decision.
However, family members of murdered victims of death row inmates found the announcement unfathomable.
Marc Klaas, whose 12-year-old daughter Polly was killed in 1993 by Richard Allen Davis, called Newsom's decision a "knife in the back" to him and other victims’ families who found the capital punishment sentences well justified.
"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."
Klass also noted the suspicious timing of Newsom's decree.
"We’re talking about serial killers, we're talking about spree killers, we're talking about cop killers, we're talking about child killers," he said. "Why, two days after the midterms, does Gavin Newsom feel the need to commute these sentences? Who benefits from this?"
