Thanks to a Nov. 5 action by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, 548 inmates on the state’s death row will have their sentences commuted to life in prison, as he moves to clear death row.
“I have decided to commute every death sentence,” Newsom wrote in an open letter, acknowledging that he understood that the decision would anger people and hurt the victims’ families who oppose it.
“I will therefore issue the same commutation to every condemned person â life without the possibility of parole, the most severe punishment I can lawfully impose and the state of California can ethically enforce,” he added.
Newsoms announcement doesnt automatically remove every inmate from death row. State law would require the Supreme Courts approval to commute sentences for inmates with numerous felony convictions. This includes hundreds of inmates currently on death row.
Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office for comment.
California is home to some of the most notorious child murderers and serial killers, including the following 10:
In 1993, Richard Allen Davis broke into a Petaluma residence and kidnapped 12-year-old Polly Ann Klaas, who had been having a sleepover at her home with two friends. Davis strangled Polly and left her body in a remote area in Cloverdale.
In 1996, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge sentenced Davis to death. His previous crimes helped prompt Californias “Three Strikes” law.
Pollys father, Marc Klaas, later founded the nonprofit organization, KlassKids Foundation, which ran for 30 years and assisted in the search for millions of missing children.
Between 1977 and 1994, Joseph Naso killed at least four women in Contra Costa, Marin, and Yuba counties. He became known as the “Alphabet Killer” after choosing women who had the same letters in their first and last name.
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In 2013, a Marin County Superior Court judge sentenced Naso to death.
In February 1999, Cary Stayner near Yosemite National Park.
Stayner, a handyman at the nearby Cedar Lodge, murdered Carole Sund, 42. He also murdered and sexually assaulted her daughter Juli, 15, and killed family friend, Silvina Pelosso, 16.
Months later, he beheaded a 26-year-old nature guide identified as Joie Armstrong.
In 2002, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge sentenced Stayner to death for the murders of Sund and the teen girls. He was already serving a life sentence for murdering Armstrong.
Stayner first became notable as the older brother of Steven Stayner, who escaped a 1972 kidnapping in 1980.
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