Newsom moves to commute all California death sentences to life in prison without parole

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Set us as preferred Gov.Gavin Newsom told the California Supreme Court Thursday that he will commute the death sentences of all 548 state prisoners awaiting execution, reducing their punishments to life in prison without parole.

Newsom can commute about 40% of the death sentences with the stroke of a pen, but the rest will require the high court’s approval in order to be finalized.The mass commutation would apply to inmates convicted of some of the most heinous acts in the state’s history.Newsom and other opponents of capital punishment have long argued that the process is costly, cruel and discriminatory, with death sentences disproportionately handed down to defendants of color.“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundation of our legal system, and diminishes each of us,” Newsom wrote in a letter to Californians explaining his decision.

“I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency.” The move comes in Newsom’s final months as governor and as he considers a run for president.Reducing the death sentences could help him in a primary with a Democratic base of like-minded liberal voters, but potentially hurt him in a general election with a national electorate that supports capital punishment.

The decision to officially spare the condemned inmates is largely symbolic in a state that has not executed a prisoner since 2006, though experts say it could save millions of dollars in court costs every year.Only 13 inmates have been killed since voters reinstated the death penalty in 1978.

The state’s electorate reaffirmed its support a decade ago, voting down a ballot initiative that would have abolished capital punishment.Pol...