California Gov. Newsom to commute 548 death row sentences; DA 'disgusted'

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced he intends to commute the death sentences of all of the state's 548 death row inmates to life without parole. This comes as the death penalty is under renewed scrutiny across the country after that failed execution of Krista Pike in Tennessee. Let's bring in KTVU's Heather Holmes, who is here now with more on Governor Newsom's decision. Yeah, this is a big announcement from the Governor, Alex. Governor Governor Newsom put a moratorium on executions in place back in 2019. And no one has been put to death in California in 20 years due to legal challenges over the state's lethal injection method. Today, the governor's call to commute hundreds of death sentences is stirring strong debate. So the founder of the California nonprofit Crime Survivors called the governor's decision offensive and outrageous. San Quentin Rehabilitation Center in Marin County houses the state's death row. Among the most notorious convicted killers there are Richard Allen Davis, who kidnapped and murdered 12-year-old Polly Klass in Sonoma County in 1993. The American Civil Liberties Union applauded Newsom's announcement. The ACLU is leading an ongoing legal challenge to the death penalty, calling it racially discriminatory and unconstitutional. Now, the governor says his decision comes after nearly three decades of opposing state-sanctioned executions. The governor adding in his statement, quote, 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. Today, we spoke with San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaff, who described his reaction as, quote, disgust. Saying that California voters have twice approved the death penalty. If we truly are a democracy, if we truly are where the people of the state get to decide, and I don't fault a governor if he has a case he says, I just don't have trust in the outcome. But to sweep with the broad brush that occurred here, that bothers me. I don't think that's democracy at work. Now, the state constitution requires the approval of the California Supreme Court to grant clemency to anyone convicted of a felony more than once. So that means the court would have to approve nearly 400 of those commutations. This all comes on an unusual day when three U.S. states all held executions, Alex, including Indiana, Alabama and Florida. Florida has carried out now a record number of executions under Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who could be a contender for the White House in 2028, along with Democrat Governor Newsom. Yeah, certainly a lot of debate about Governor Newsom's decision today. Okay, Heather, we appreciate it. Thank you. Now, other governors have granted broad clemency to all death row prisoners in their states. Colorado Governor Jared Polis did this back in 2020, And then Governor Kate Brown of Oregon did something similar in. in 2022. Let's talk more about the legal questions surrounding today's decision by California's governor. And we want to bring in Professor David Levine from UC College of the Law in San Francisco. Professor, we appreciate the time tonight. So does the governor of California have the authority to commute prisoners death sentences in this kind of sweeping fashion? Well, as Heather said, the answer is yes and no. As to about a third of these prisoners, the governor has the absolute power under the California Constitution. Now remember, it's life without parole, without possibility of parole, so in a way the prisoners' lives won't change because we already had a moratorium imposed by Governor Newsom on actual executions. So it's somewhat more form over substance. Now as to the rest, and as Heather said, there's quite a few, if they have been convicted of more than one felony, then what the governor has to do is recommend to the state Supreme court that those sentences be commuted from death penalty to life without parole. And we don't know exactly what the California Supreme Court will do. Will they want to take them up one by one? Will they agree to make a sweeping decision as Governor Newsom did? So that all remains to be seen. Yeah, what should we know about that review process for the California Supreme Court and how it's likely to play out? Well, they could play it one of two ways. They could say, we agree with the governor that as a broad brush, we should just sweep these away. That as a practical matter, nobody has been convicted, nobody has been executed in California more than 20 years, and nobody is about to be executed in California because of Governor Newsom's moratorium that he imposed shortly after he came into office, he dismantled our death chamber at San Quentin. And Governor-elect Becerra has indicated that he would maintain that same policy. So one is they could say, okay, we just agree and they're all out. Or they could go one by one and they could decide, well, there are certain crimes that are They're so heinous. That those people should remain on death row. That's another possibility. All right. Talk to me about the legal challenges that obviously we expect to come here after the governor's decision. Opponents are likely to argue that the governor violated the law with these blanket commutations and that he has to consider each case individually. Talk to me about the arguments you expect from from opponents of this move. Well, as you said, what they can do is say it shouldn't be done in a wholesale fashion. That the idea of the governor's use of his pardon power, his commutation power, is that it should be done on an individual basis rather than something more sweeping. I doubt that that's going to succeed. Think about, as you said, that in other states there's been these sweeping commutations. Think about Mr. Trump on his first day in office when he commuted all the January 6th people without regard to whether they knocked all those cases out completely. Here again, we're only talking about moving from the theoretical possibility of somebody being put to death, and again, I say theoretical because of the moratorium, because of the legal complexity of doing that, versus putting them in jail without possibility of parole, or the court. could say, well, they do have to be done individually and there needs to be some weighing, something like the way a parole board works, where they look at each case and they say this person is deserving or not deserving of some relief. So the court could go either way, but I would guess that they're going to allow this sweeping use of the governor's power because it's pretty unfettered, I think. And then the separate question of whether the state Supreme Court When its turn comes, whether they will choose to go individually, which is a whole lot more work than just saying, yes, we agree with a sweeping decision. But we'll see. All right. Yes. Obviously, a lengthy legal fight in front of us here after this decision from the governor of California. Appreciate the time tonight. David Levine from UC College of the Law in San Francisco. Thank you. No, Alex, I can't hear you. Oh, well, that's we just wrapped up there. We appreciate the time from Alex. All right. David's lost the connection here, but we appreciate him back off.