California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Nov. 5 that he will commute all 548 death sentences, though those commutations are not yet in effect.
If completed, the move would reduce the sentences to life without parole in what would be the largest mass commutation of death sentences in U.S. history. Newsom can act on his own for inmates with only one felony conviction, about 166 people, but about 382 with a separate felony conviction need a recommendation from four justices of the California Supreme Court before any commutation can take effect.
The states Habeas Corpus Resource Center says the governor has not yet formally commuted any sentences, and the court has invited legal briefing on the request.
In interviews with the Daily Caller, death-row inmate Ka Pasasouk, sentenced for killing a rival and three witnesses outside a Los Angeles boarding home in 2012, said he hoped Newsom would run for president. If you do run for president, I mean, it just gives me more hope because if you could commute death sentences, you could give people a chance to go home, Pasasouk said.
Other inmates split, with some calling the plan all political or wrong, while an unidentified inmate convicted of killing a police officer said he had a newfound respect for Newsom even though he would not vote for him.
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