Newsom plans to commute all California death sentences

As of 9:24 p.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday, Nov. 5, that he plans to change all California death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, his office announced in a release that linked an open letter to Californians.

About 548 people are under sentence of death in California, according to AFP and The San Francisco Standard. The planned commutations would convert those sentences to life without the possibility of parole.

In language quoted by AFP and other outlets from the letter, Newsom wrote that he was acting on a conviction that society is stronger when it rejects "state-sanctioned killing," and that he would "issue the same commutation to every condemned person — life without the possibility of parole," so that those offenders "will die in prison, but not by our hand."

Court review still required for hundreds

Under the California Constitution, a governor generally needs a recommendation from the state Supreme Court before commuting the sentence of a person convicted of more than one felony. Newsom asked the justices to weigh in on 382 of the cases and requested a recommendation by the end of the year so he can act before his term ends, The San Francisco Standard reported.

California's last execution took place in January 2006, and Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions in March 2019, the Standard reported. Absent the moratorium, 45 people would be immediately subject to execution, Newsom said, according to the Standard.

Reaction and remaining process

Attorney General Rob Bonta praised the announced change in comments carried by The San Francisco Standard. AFP quoted Jess Nichol, the sister of a victim, saying she had come to believe that whether a killer is executed "has absolutely nothing to do with my recovery or with real public safety," and quoted the ACLU applauding an end to what it called an "inhumane" punishment.

The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a victims'-rights advocacy group, told The New York Times it plans to sue over the death-sentence reductions, The San Francisco Standard reported. In a Nov. 5 statement, the foundation urged the state Supreme Court to review each case individually. GROKsiNEWS.com found no report of a lawsuit filed over the commutations as of Monday, Nov. 9.