Xavier Becerra makes his death penalty stance clear after botched Christa Pike execution

California has 564 inmates under death sentences — and gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra is weighing in on the state’s death penalty after Tennessee’s botched execution of Christa Pike.Notorious criminals such as Scott Peterson — convicted in 2004 of killing his wife, Laci Peterson, who was eight months pregnant — and serial killer Charles Ng, who was convicted of 11 first-degree murders, were among the condemned in the Golden State.Peterson, however, had his death sentence overturned in 2020 and was resentenced to life without parole.Scrutiny on the death penalty resurfaced after Pike’s scheduled execution went horribly wrong Wednesday.

She was rushed to the hospital after the Tennessee Department of Corrections administered two doses of the highly potent sedative, Pentobarbital, but it failed to kill her.“Christa is critically ill but not in a coma as I understand it,” her lawyer told TMZ, adding she was still unconscious as of Thursday afternoon.Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, whom she beat, slashed and bludgeoned to death in Knoxville, Tennessee.When asked about his stance on the death penalty following the Pike debacle, a Becerra campaign spokesperson referred the California Post Thursday to a tweet from May where he praised Gov.Gavin Newsom’s moratorium on executions.“Governor Newsom’s death penalty moratorium represented an important step toward a more just criminal justice system,” the candidate said.“As Governor, I will extend California’s moratorium on executions and continue moving our state away from a costly, flawed system that disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities and too often gets it wrong.”California has not carried out an execution since 2006, even though it houses the nation’s largest death row population.

Newsom put a moratorium on executions in 2019.Newsom’s office reiterated its death policy stance after the Pike situation in an...