California prosecutors and law enforcement groups have criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to commute the death sentences of 548 inmates, with one district attorney saying the move disregarded victims’ families.
The commutations change the inmates’ sentences to life in prison without parole. The announcement drew condemnation from some officials and support from opponents of capital punishment.
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow said he believed the decision was driven by politics rather than concern for people affected by the crimes.
In a letter explaining his decision, Newsom argued that capital punishment conflicts with California’s values and weakens the state’s legal system. He said decades in public office had led him to question what government can justly achieve, and that he considers state-sanctioned executions incompatible with the state’s principles.
Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions after taking office in 2019. California has not carried out an execution since 2006.
Criticism followed quickly. San Diego Police Officers Association President Lt. Jared Wilson said the decision denied justice to victims, including dozens in San Diego County. He said the families would remember the people who killed their loved ones, and called the governor’s action deeply wrong.
Wilson and other law enforcement officials pointed to cases affected by the order, including that of Jesse Michael Gomez, who was sentenced to death for the 2016 murder of San Diego police officer Jonathan “J.D.” De Guzman.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said California voters had rejected efforts to abolish the death penalty in two ballot measures. Unless the law changes, he said, his office will continue to assess eligible cases carefully and with restraint.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer described the commutations as mercy for people convicted of serious crimes at the expense of their victims. He also noted that voters have supported retaining the death penalty in recent years.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a former gubernatorial candidate, said 127 people on the state’s death row were sentenced for crimes committed in Riverside County. He stressed that the sentences followed investigations, trials, evidence presented in court, and decisions by juries and judges. Bianco said Newsom’s broad action overrode those outcomes and disregarded victims’ families, prosecutors, and years of work toward justice.
Two of the inmates whose sentences were commuted were convicted in San Luis Obispo County. Michael Whisenhunt, 61, was sentenced to death for torturing and killing Kesha Gurke, his girlfriend’s 1-year-old daughter, in 1995. Rex Krebs, 60, was convicted in the killings of two female college students.
Dow said victims’ families were not consulted or notified before Newsom made the announcement. He said he felt sick for crime victims across California and believed the governor’s decision had treated them with contempt.
Responding to opponents who argue that capital punishment is flawed and racially biased, Dow defended the state’s legal process. He said the system provides extensive defense procedures to screen cases and that he has confidence in the integrity of convictions.
