Watch as former prosecutor speaks out against Newsom's mass commutation of death sentences

Today, on behalf of the elected district attorneys across California, many of which are here today, crime victims and their families, victims' rights organizations, law enforcement organizations, the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation is announcing that we will be filing every legal challenge available before the California Supreme Court challenging Governor Newsom's blanket commutation of 548 sentences. Together we are asking the court to uphold the law, respect the sanctity of jury verdicts, and protect the rights of victims. Our legal challenges involve two fundamental failures. First, the failure to follow California law. When Governor Newsom announced his plan, his office released an extraordinary collection of documents, extensive legal research, memoranda, points and authorities, letters, lists of condemned inmates. Not one research on one case, research into 548 cases that took decades to wind their way through the judicial process. Thousands of families have been impacted by these death row killers. Think about the time, the effort, the taxpayer resources devoted to preparing all of that material. Yet after all of that work, all of that time and resources and taxpayer resources, not a single phone call, not a single email. Not a single letter to a district attorney in this state whose offices actually prosecuted those cases. And because prosecutors were left out, victims' families were left in the dark. Many were horrified to learn about Governor Newsom's plans on the news, rather than from the very people that have been entrusted to protect their rights. California law requires that district attorneys be notified by the governor in the commutation process. And that's for good reason. They know the crimes, they know the evidence, and they know the victims whose voices deserve to be heard. The governor found the resources to try to build his case for 548 commutations, but he didn't find the time to contact the prosecutor's offices, which secured those convictions. That is one of the basis of our challenges. Secondly, Our second primary area of focus of our challenge is about the governor's abuse of executive power and his failure to examine every one of these cases individually. The California Supreme Court's own administrative order identifies records the court should consider in clemency matters that come before that court. Criminal histories, probation reports, prison records, investigations and letters supporting or opposing that commutation request. Where was the individualized examination of the murders, the aggravating circumstances, and the devastating impact on the victims and their families?