Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he commuted the sentences of hundreds of death row inmates to life without the possibility of parole Thursday.
Newsom commuted the sentences of all 548 inmates on California's death row in the final months of his governorship. In a letter released by his office, Newsom said the state "cannot morally kill them" despite the "indescribable suffering" they caused to their victims. (RELATED: Virginia Officials Grant Parole To Dozens Of Rapists, Murderers, And Repeat Violent Offenders)
This is the largest mass commutation of death row inmates in American history.
"The harm they inflicted persists across generations," Newsom said. "Many Californians feel that those who commit brutal crimes deserve to die. But as Governor, I have concluded the state cannot morally kill them."
"I do, however, pray that this action will finally separate the memories of the victims of these crimes from the fate of those who harmed them," Newsom added. "We can now let these offenders die in obscurity while we forever remember and honor their victims."
One of the criminals Newsom commuted was Marcus Wesson, an 80-year-old man who killed nine of his own children in 2004, three of whom were under the age of two. Reports at the time indicate that he possibly fathered several of the dead children with his own daughters and nieces.
He was charged and later convicted of nine counts of first-degree murder and 14 counts of sexual offenses, including rape and sexual abuse of children. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Trump to Unveil FBI Report Showing Largest Violent Crime Drop On Record)
Another man named Richard Allen Davis had his sentence commuted despite kidnapping and murdering a 12-year-old girl in 1993. Davis had taken her from her own bedroom at a slumber party by knife-point, and her body was found months later.
Isauro Aguirre was sentenced to death in 2017 after torturing and killing his eight-year-old son. Aguirre's son died in 2013 after suffering abuse from his parents, with prosecutors presenting evidence that he had been beaten, shot with a BB gun, and starved.
The child's cause of death was determined to be blunt-force trauma to the head and body, combined with systemic torture and starvation. Despite this, Aguirre's sentence was commuted by Newsom.
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