Becerra once pushed for the death penalty, but says he would extend a moratorium if elected governor

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Set us as preferred SACRAMENTO — Democrat Xavier Becerra defended the death penalty while serving as California’s attorney general, a punishment his office actively sought in the case of a gunman convicted of an Orange County mass shooting, but as the front-running candidate for governor he has vowed to block executions if elected in November.Becerra said he will extend the blanket reprieve for all death row inmates that Gov.Gavin Newsom enacted by executive order in 2019, saying he supported “moving our state away from a costly, flawed system that disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities and too often gets it wrong.”Those comments have reassured anti-death penalty advocates wary of Becerra, who has stated throughout his career that capital punishment should be an option for victims seeking justice.

He reiterated that stance just a decade ago during his confirmation hearing for attorney general, though he also expressed concerns about the unjust application of the punishment.“I support the death penalty, but I hate the way it’s being executed,” Becerra told state lawmakers in 2017.“If you commit some heinous crime where you have taken the life of someone else, and you knew that there was a death penalty in place in that place where you committed that crime, then you should face the punishment for what you’ve done,” he explained.“It doesn’t give me pleasure to say that, but I simply do believe there’s a simple justice in that.”Becerra’s challenger in the Nov.

3 election, former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton, opposes the death penalty but said he would rescind Newsom’s moratorium because it defies the will of voters.Becerra has said he is concerned by how death sentences historically have been applied, including a highly disproportionate number of condemned inmates who are...