California governor just spared the lives of 548 death row inmates

| Night News Editor Published November 5, 2026 10:00pm Updated November 5, 2026 10:01pm Prison staff dismantle the death row gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison (Picture: Getty) California Governor Gavin Newsom will pardon more than 500 death row inmates. Newsom’s decision comes as he prepares to leave office after eight years and is expected to become one of the Democrats’ frontrunners to run for president in 2028. His move came after he realised ‘the limits of what government can justly accomplish,’ he said. ‘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,’ Newsom said. Newsom moved to grant clemency to 548 people currently sentenced to death in California, of whom 529 are men and 19 are women, according to numbers provided by his office. He will change the death sentences in the state to life in prison without the possibility of parole, though the state Supreme Court will have the final say in hundreds of those cases. Who has been saved? The prisoners granted clemency include Charles Ng convicted of 11 murders committed with Leonard Lake in one of California’s most notorious serial murder cases. Randy Kraft, aka the ‘Scorecard Killer’, convicted of 16 murders, though suspected in many more killings of young men. David Carpenter, known as the ‘Trailside Killer’, convicted of multiple murders and sexual assaults in Northern California. And Joseph Naso, a serial killer known as the ‘Alphabet Murders’ killer. He was convicted of killing four women in Northern California whose first and last names shared matching initials. ‘As Governor, I alone bear responsibility for this decision and its impact, just as I alone would bear responsibility for each execution,’ Newsom wrote. Gavin Newsom said every execution would weigh on his conscience (Credits: AP) Patricia Wenskunas, founder of the California advocacy nonprofit Crime Survivors, which opposed the abolition of the death penalty, criticised Newsom’s decision. ‘My heart hurts for every one of the victims and every one of their family members,” she said, calling the decision ‘offensive’ and ‘outrageous.’ The American Civil Liberties Union, which has said the implementation of the death penalty reflects racial bias, applauded the announcement. ‘These commutations reflect what justice demands: an end to a racist, error-prone, and inhumane punishment that has burdened California for far too long,’ Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a statement. The ACLU is involved in an ongoing legal challenge to California’s death penalty statute, alleging it is racially discriminatory and unconstitutional. Newsom has said in the past that it is wrong for the government to kill its citizens and that capital punishment in practice has discriminated against mentally ill people and people of colour. News Updates Stay on top of the headlines with daily email updates.