California Gov. Gavin Newsom commutes all death sentences

Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted all California death sentences on Thursday, declaring that “state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with” values in America’s most populous state.In an open letter to constituents, Newsom said taking this step is “among the most difficult of my career.”“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values,” he said.California has not put a prisoner to death since Jan. 17, 2006 when Clarence Ray Allen was put to death via lethal injection.Newsom said his executive action will impact the “548 people now under death sentence in California,” making for “the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere.” There were 561 inmates on death row as of Tuesday, according to Department of Corrections records.Prominent death penalty abolitionist Rev. Jeff Hood has witnessed 14 executions and he praised the California governor’s actions.“The silence after the very breath of a human being is violently wrestled out of them during an execution is deafening. I’ve heard it fourteen times,” the Arkansas-based Hood said in statement Thursday afternoon. “Today, Governor Newsom has courageously chosen to break that silence. These commutations represent the height of moral leadership. Cruelty laid down.”