(Pixabay)
In a stunning act that benefits hundreds of murderers, the governor in California, Gavin Newsom, has announced his decision to commute all 548 death sentences there into life in prison terms.
He already had imposed a moratorium on executions during his tenure in office.
“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundations Of our legal system, and diminishes each Of us. 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,” he wrote.
He explained, as he prepares to leave office and turn the governorship over the radical abortion promoter Xavier Becerra, he was exercising his constitutional clemency authority.
He said justice and human decency overrode the need for executing those who have committed horrific crimes.
He noted his moratorium on executions, however, left the death sentences in place, until now.
“The people sentenced to death in California caused indescribable suffering to victims, their families, communities, and our state as a whole. The harm they inflicted persists across generations. Many Californians feel that those who commit brutal crimes deserve to die. But as governor, I have concluded the state cannot morally kill them. I do, however, pray that this action will finally separate the memories of the victims of these crimes from the fate of those who harmed them.”
He admitted his determination “may surface excruciating memories for victims’ families.”
Of those killers to whom he gave a gift, he said, “These offenders will die in prison but not by our hand.”
He noted, “California’s Constitution requires the Supreme Court’s review of clemency grants to those twice-convicted of a felony. My decision to commute all death sentences therefore compels the involvement of the Chief Justice and Associate Justices in a unique inter-branch constitutional process.”
Reports confirmed about two-thirds of the cases will require approval from the court.
An organization that monitors death penalty cases said his move was the “largest mass commutation in U.S. history to death-sentenced prisoners in California.”
The state had not had an execution in more than 20 years.
Voters in the state several times have refused to abolish capital punishment.
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[ H/T WorldNetDaily ]
