California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced he will commute the death sentences of all 548 prisoners on the state's death row to life without the possibility of parole, according to an open letter to Californians.
The outgoing governor can finalize roughly 40% of the commutations on his own, but the rest require approval from the California Supreme Court before his term ends in January, according to the Los Angeles Times. Newsom asked the justices to weigh in on 382 of the cases.
Newsom, a Democrat eyeing a 2028 presidential bid, framed the move as a matter of conscience. "I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California's values," the term-limited governor wrote. He argued the death penalty erodes the legal system and diminishes the state.
BREAKING: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has commuted the death sentences of all 548 people on the state’s death row to life without parole, in the largest mass commutation in modern U.S. history. pic.twitter.com/F2NiU8okXM
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 5, 2026
The reprieve covers 529 men and 19 women. It includes some of the most infamous names in California's criminal history. Charles Ng, convicted of 11 murders in the mid-1980s, is among them. So is Richard Allen Davis, who abducted and killed 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993.
Polly's father, Marc Klaas, condemned the decision. "Baby killers, cop killers, spree killers, and serial killers have all found an ally in Gavin Newsom," Klaas told Fox News Digital.
Sandy Friend, whose 8-year-old son, Michael Lyons, was raped and murdered in 1996, called the move "a slap in the face," the Los Angeles Times reported. Law enforcement groups and other victims' relatives said the governor had disregarded the suffering of the families the condemned left behind.
Supporters hailed the action as the largest mass commutation in U.S. history, one that would eliminate more than a quarter of all death sentences nationwide. Newsom timed the announcement for after Tuesday's general election, the Times reported.
The move comes after years of the Democrat chipping away at capital punishment in the nation's most populous state. Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in March 2019 and ordered the dismantling of death row in 2022. California has not executed anyone since 2006.
Newsom had weighed the mass commutation for months, with talks intensifying after the botched execution of Tennessee inmate Christa Pike. Gov.-elect Xavier Becerra has pledged to keep the moratorium in place.
An August poll by the Pew Research Center found about two-thirds of Americans support capital punishment for convicted murderers.
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