California Gov.
Gavin Newsom's decision to commute the death sentences of all 548 condemned inmates has left surviving loved ones reeling.
One of them is 78-year-old Phyllis Loya, mother of slain Pittsburg police officer Larry Lasater. Lasater was shot and killed on April 23, 2005, while trying to arrest robbery suspects.
Alexander Rashad Hamilton hid in a bush, killed Lasater, and was sentenced to death until Newsom spared him Thursday by converting the sentence to life without parole. Loya said her first reaction was "immense anger." She learned the news while leaving the gym with friends and called it "the worst day of my life."
"It's been very tough. It's very emotional," she told The California Post / New York Post.
Loya rejected Newsom's claim that the mass commutation was about morals. She branded him a "political animal" for dropping the decision right after midterms that favored Democrats.
"He wants to be president. So I was thinking he was testing the water, and the election made him go for it today," Loya said.
"Does Gavin Newsom ever talk about the victims? No, he doesn't."
She noted that when Newsom first ran for governor he told editorial boards he would "follow the will of the people" on the death penalty. California voters have kept capital punishment on the books, yet Newsom imposed a 2019 execution moratorium and has now moved to empty death row.
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