District attorneys and law enforcement unions across California have publicly condemned Gov. Gavin Newsom following his announcement to commute the sentences of 548 death row inmates, a decision one prosecutor called a slap in the face to victims' families. Newsom’s sweeping order to commute the condemned inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole has drawn intense criticism alongside praise from anti-death penalty advocates.
"I think it's all about politics, sadly. Politics is over people in this case, and that's a real sad state of affairs," San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow told Fox News Digital. ALABAMA GOVERNOR COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE AS DOUBTS EMERGE ABOUT EVIDENCE IN MURDER CONVICTION In an open letter detailing his decision, Newsom said California's capital punishment system is fundamentally at odds with the state's principles.
"After nearly 30 years in public office, I have come to understand the limits of what government can justly accomplish," Newsom wrote. "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." POPE LEO DENOUNCES DEATH PENALTY AS 'INADMISSIBLE' AHEAD OF PENTAGON'S PLANNED LIVESTREAMED EXECUTION Upon taking office in 2019, Newsom issued an executive moratorium on capital punishment. California has not carried out an execution since 2006.
The backlash to the governor's announcement was immediate. FLORIDA PUTS 77-YEAR-OLD MAN TO DEATH FOR DEPUTY'S MURDER AS STATE CLOSES IN ON EXECUTION RECORD "Justice will not have been served for these victims, dozens of them in San Diego County," said Lt. Jared Wilson, president of the San Diego Police Officers Association.
"Their last memories were of these evil, evil men who took their lives. What Gavin Newsom has done is awful." Wilson and other law enforcement officials strongly criticized the blanket clemency, citing cases like that of Jesse Michael Gomez, who was sentenced to death for the 2016 murder of San Diego police officer Jonathan "J.D." De Guzman. "Californians have been asked on two separate ballot initiatives to abolish the death penalty, and both times they have chosen to keep it for the most serious crimes," said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
"Until the law is changed, my office will continue to evaluate every death penalty-eligible case with the rigor, care, and restraint these decisions demand." NEW YORK BILLS COULD ABOLISH LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE FOR SERIAL KILLERS AND COP KILLERS, CRITICS WARN Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer called the commutations "mercy for the wolves … while inflicting the ultimate act of cruelty on the sheep," saying voters in California have upheld the death penalty in recent years. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who previously ran for governor, noted that 127 inmates on California’s death row were sentenced for crimes committed in his county. "These sentences were not handed down without due process," he said.
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