California’s Most Infamous Death Row Inmates Amid Newsom Commutation Report

U.S.NewsPoliticsAI PoliticsTechFact CheckSportsGlobalIran WarRussia-UkraineMiddle EastChina And AsiaLive BlogBetter PlanetAll World NewsLifestyleFamily & ParentingEntertainmentTravelPetsAutomotiveRelationshipsScienceHealthPersonal FinanceBetter WorkplacesReaders ChoiceOpinionMy TurnAll OpinionRankingsHealthCorporate ResponsibilityFinanceProductsEducationWorkAll RankingsWatchThe 1600The Royal ReportUnconventionalFrom The PaddockNewsmakersSocialFacebookInstagramYouTubeRedditTikTokTwitter/XExtraNewslettersDare to DreamEventsEssaysPodcastsVantageInsightsMagazineCEO CircleAnnouncementsLeadershipDev Pragad California Governor Gavin Newsom is seriously weighing whether to commute the sentences of the hundreds of inmates on death row in the state before leaving office in January, according to a new report. Newsom has been considering the move for months but stepped up conversations with advisers after the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee last week, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the talks. California, which has the nation’s largest death row population, has not carried out an execution since 2006. Newsom, a Democrat who has long opposed capital punishment, placed a moratorium on executions in 2019 and ordered the dismantling of California’s death row in 2022. But although other governors have issued mass commutations before, commuting the sentences of all 563 death row inmates in California would mark the biggest clearing of a death row in modern U.S. history. “Governor Newsom has been clear about his position on the death penalty since his first year in office, when he ordered a moratorium on executions," Newsom spokeswoman Diana Crofts-Pelayo told Newsweek. "He believes the intentional killing of another person is wrong.” Newsom “has already shown himself to be a leader in the movement to abolish the death penalty,” Austin Sarat, a professor at Amherst College who has written extensively about the death penalty, told Newsweek. “If he were to commute all death sentences in California, he would deliver a decisive blow against capital punishment at a time when the nation’s attention is focused on its indecency. A mass commutation in California would be one of the most important anti-death penalty acts ever taken in American history.” Newsom, who has been floated as a 2028 presidential hopeful, addressed the commutation possibility during a recent episode of his podcast, This is Gavin Newsom. “Do I commute the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere?” Newsom asked during the conversation with Bryan Stevenson, a renowned death penalty lawyer. “I think you do,” Stevenson replied. “And I think it becomes a really pivotal moment in this country.” The governor also referenced the political blowback, as well as the reaction from the families of victims. “I’m getting all those people in my ear: ‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it.’ Politics. That’s the best they can do,” he said. “But also the victims. What do you say?…What do I say to the victims?” Newsweek has contacted Newsom’s office for comment via an email outside regular business hours. The governor has not announced a decision, but a mass commutation could include clemency for some of the most infamous killers in California’s modern history. Here, Newsweek looks at some of the most notorious inmates currently on California’s death row. Richard Allen Davis Davis, 72, was sentenced to death for the 1993 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas. Davis kidnapped Klaas from her bedroom in Petaluma at knifepoint and strangled her to death. Klaas’ disappearance sparked a nationwide search. Davis was arrested two months later and led police to her body, which was found in a shallow grave. The case led to California’s passage of a "three strikes" law in 1994 that set longer sentences for repeat offenders. Isauro Aguirre Aguirre, 46, was sentenced to death for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son, Gabriel Fernandez, in Los Angeles. The boy’s mother, Pearl Fernandez, was sentenced to life in prison. The case garnered fresh attention in 2020 following the release of The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, a Netflix documentary series that chronicled the months of torture and systemic failures of social care leading to the boy’s death. Joseph Naso Naso, known as the “Alphabet Killer,” was sentenced to death in 2013 after being convicted of the killings of four women with matching initials between 1977 and 1994. Investigators found evidence in Naso’s home, including a "List of 10" featuring descriptions and references to the women's killings. The 92-year-old former photographer’s case was revisited in a documentary, Death Row Confidential: Secrets of a Serial Killer, last year that explored claims that he may have killed as many as 26 women. Wayne Adam Ford Ford, 64, was sentenced to death in 2006 after being convicted for killing four women. Ford turned himself in to authorities in 1998 with a severed breast in this jacket pocket, the Los Angeles Times reported. He confessed to killing the women, cutting up some of their bodies and dumping their remains in waterways across the state, according to the newspaper. Ramon Salcido Salcido, 65, was sentenced to death in 1990 after being convicted of a killing spree involving several family members. He killed his wife, two daughters, mother-in-law, his wife’s two sisters and a co-worker during the rampage in April 1989, the Associated Press reported. Cary Stayner Stayner, 65, known as “The Yosemite Park Killer,” was sentenced to death after being convicted of the 1999 murders of four women near Yosemite National Park. The California Supreme Court denied his death penalty appeal earlier this year. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Dave Siminoff.By Khaleda RahmanNational Correspondent

0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberSee more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.California Governor Gavin Newsom is seriously weighing whether to commute the sentences of the hundreds of inmates on death row in the state before leaving office in January, according to a new report.

Newsom has been considering the move for months but stepped up conversations with advisers after the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee last week, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the talks.

California, which has the nation’s largest death row population, has not carried out an execution since 2006.

Newsom, a Democrat who has long opposed capital punishment, placed a moratorium on executions in 2019 and ordered the dismantling of California’s death row in 2022.

But although other governors have issued mass commutations before, commuting the sentences of all 563 death row inmates in California would mark the biggest clearing of a death row in modern U.S. history.

“Governor Newsom has been clear about his position on the death penalty since his first year in office, when he ordered a moratorium on executions,” Newsom spokeswoman Diana Crofts-Pelayo told Newsweek. “He believes the intentional killing of another person is wrong.”

Related StoryFirst Execution Since Christa Pike Shows Tennessee’s ‘Incompetence’—PastorNewsom “has already shown himself to be a leader in the movement to abolish the death penalty,” Austin Sarat, a professor at Amherst College who has written extensively about the death penalty, told Newsweek.

“If he were to commute all death sentences in California, he would deliver a decisive blow against capital punishment at a time when the nation’s attention is focused on its indecency. A mass commutation in California would be one of the most important anti-death penalty acts ever taken in American history.”

Newsom, who has been floated as a 2028 presidential hopeful, addressed the commutation possibility during a recent episode of his podcast, This is Gavin Newsom.

“Do I commute the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere?” Newsom asked during the conversation with Bryan Stevenson, a renowned death penalty lawyer.

“I think you do,” Stevenson replied. “And I think it becomes a really pivotal moment in this country.”

The governor also referenced the political blowback, as well as the reaction from the families of victims.

“I’m getting all those people in my ear: ‘Don’t do it. Don’t do it.’ Politics. That’s the best they can do,” he said. “But also the victims. What do you say?…What do I say to the victims?”

Newsweek has contacted Newsom’s office for comment via an email outside regular business hours.

The governor has not announced a decision, but a mass commutation could include clemency for some of the most infamous killers in California’s modern history.

Here, Newsweek looks at some of the most notorious inmates currently on California’s death row.

Davis, 72, was sentenced to death for the 1993 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas.

Davis kidnapped Klaas from her bedroom in Petaluma at knifepoint and strangled her to death. Klaas’ disappearance sparked a nationwide search. Davis was arrested two months later and led police to her body, which was found in a shallow grave.

The case led to California’s passage of a “three strikes” law in 1994 that set longer sentences for repeat offenders.

Aguirre, 46, was sentenced to death for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend’s 8-year-old son, Gabriel Fernandez, in Los Angeles. The boy’s mother, Pearl Fernandez, was sentenced to life in prison.

The case garnered fresh attention in 2020 following the release of The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, a Netflix documentary series that chronicled the months of torture and systemic failures of social care leading to the boy’s death.

Naso, known as the “Alphabet Killer,” was sentenced to death in 2013 after being convicted of the killings of four women with matching initials between 1977 and 1994.

Investigators found evidence in Naso’s home, including a “List of 10” featuring descriptions and references to the women’s killings.

The 92-year-old former photographer’s case was revisited in a documentary, Death Row Confidential: Secrets of a Serial Killer, last year that explored claims that he may have killed as many as 26 women.

Ford, 64, was sentenced to death in 2006 after being convicted for killing four women.

Ford turned himself in to authorities in 1998 with a severed breast in this jacket pocket, the Los Angeles Times reported. He confessed to killing the women, cutting up some of their bodies and dumping their remains in waterways across the state, according to the newspaper.

Salcido, 65, was sentenced to death in 1990 after being convicted of a killing spree involving several family members.

He killed his wife, two daughters, mother-in-law, his wife’s two sisters and a co-worker during the rampage in April 1989, the Associated Press reported.

Stayner, 65, known as “The Yosemite Park Killer,” was sentenced to death after being convicted of the 1999 murders of four women near Yosemite National Park.

The California Supreme Court denied his death penalty appeal earlier this year.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Dave Siminoff.