Newsom commutes sentences of all California death row prisoners
By Devon M. Sayers, Dalia Faheid, CNN
(CNN) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday he is commuting every death sentence in his state to a sentence of life in prison without parole.
“My decision today comes after nearly three decades of openly opposing state-sanctioned executions as an elected official,” Newsom wrote in an open letter to California residents shared by his office.
The move will impact the lives of 548 people in the state, which “make up the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere,” said Newsom, who is mulling a 2028 White House bid.
Newsom’s announcement comes as the death penalty faces renewed scrutiny following Tennessee’s failed execution of Christa Pike in late September.
In the weeks since Pike survived two doses of pentobarbital, Tennessee paused the state’s remaining executions but requests to stop executions elsewhere have been denied in courts. Three lethal injections were scheduled on Thursday, with Florida and Alabama planning to execute two men hours after an execution in Indiana.
The American Civil Liberties Union in a statement Thursday praised Newsom’s decision, saying it marks “a historic step towards ending the death penalty in California and across the country.”
“These commutations reflect what justice demands: an end to a racist, error-prone, and inhumane punishment that has burdened California for far too long,” said Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director. “By taking this step, Gov. Newsom has affirmed that the death penalty has no place in California and he showed real courage by confronting racialized injustice head-on.”
California’s death row prisoners include serial killers Randy Kraft, also known as the “Southern California Strangler”; Charles Ng, who was convicted of killing 11 people in California in the 1980s; and Richard Allen Davis, who kidnapped and killed 12-year-old Polly Klass in 1993.
There are several prisoners from the Coachella Valley, including:
- FELIX, John (Age: 36) | Received: 09/10/2019 | Offense Date: 10/08/2016 Killed two Palm Springs Police Officers in 2016.
- OYLER, Raymond (Age: 56) | Received: 06/11/2009 | Offense Date: 10/26/2006, on death row for starting the Esperanza Fire that killed several firefighters.
- DUNSON, Robert (Age: 44) | Received: 05/26/2015 | Offense Date: 11/26/2007 Killed a Canadian Citizen during a robber in Indio
- LARIN-GARCIA, Jose (Age: 27) | Received: 02/22/2024 | Offense Date: 02/03/2019 convicted for a quadruple homicide in the City of Palm Springs in 2019,
- SLATER, Adam (Age: 55) | Received: 06/05/2025 | Offense Date: 05/06/2020 Convicted for killing his 1 year old daughter in Palm Desert in 2020.
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin issued a statement on Newsom's decision, saying District Attorneys across the state were not notified of the decision:
Today, the Governor of California commuted the sentences of every individual on California’s Death Row. He did so without notifying the District Attorneys whose offices prosecuted these cases and secured the convictions and sentences. Alarmingly, he did so without individualized input from each family of the victims whose lives were taken by these convicted murderers.
Rather than undertake a careful, case-specific review of the evidence, legal proceedings, and circumstances of each case, the Governor once again chose to inject politics into California’s criminal justice system. This sweeping action, taken without meaningful consultation with prosecutors or victims’ families, raises serious questions about whose interests the Governor is truly representing.
The people of California deserve leaders who put politics and personal ambition aside and pursue truth, accountability, and justice with courage, integrity, and transparency. Instead, they have been presented with a decision that demonstrates a profound disregard for the victims, their families, and the prosecutors who dedicated themselves to seeking justice on their behalf.
The Governor has a responsibility to serve all Californians, including those whose lives have been forever changed by violent crime. Today’s action falls far short of that responsibility. The people of California deserve better.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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