Newsom Commutes All 548 Death Sentences Including Polly Klaas Killer

Newsom Commutes All 548 California Death Sentences Two Days After Midterms

Governor Gavin Newsom commuted every death sentence in California to life without parole two days after the midterm elections concluded, clearing death row in California of all 548 condemned inmates with roughly eight weeks remaining in his gubernatorial term. The scope and timing of the action have ignited fury among victims’ families who waited decades for justice the governor erased on his way out the door.

Newsom executed the mass commutation as a lame duck governor after California voters twice rejected ballot initiatives to abolish capital punishment. In 2012 voters said no. In 2016 they said no again. The death penalty remains on California’s books. Prosecutors can still bring capital cases. Juries can still hand down death sentences. Newsom simply made sure none of those sentences will ever be carried out.

🚨Gavin Newsom waited until two days after the midterms to commute every death sentence in California. All 548 of them, to life without parole.

He did it as a lame duck with two months left in office, after voters said no to abolishing the death penalty in 2012 and again in… pic.twitter.com/oe3wag5MM2

— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) November 10, 2026

Among the 548 inmates whose sentences Newsom commuted is Richard Allen Davis, convicted in the 1993 crimes against 12-year-old Polly Klaas. Davis abducted Klaas from a sleepover, held her at knifepoint in front of her friends, and strangled her. Her body was not found for two months. During sentencing Davis taunted Polly’s father Marc Klaas, claiming the child said something about her father before Davis ended her life—a fabrication with zero evidence designed to inflict maximum pain on a grieving parent. Marc Klaas lunged at Davis in the courtroom.

Now Marc Klaas describes Newsom’s commutation as a shiv in his back. The anguish is audible. These families lived through the trials. They buried their children. They waited decades for the sentences juries gave them. Then Newsom wiped it out because he wanted the credit.

Critics argue Newsom’s decision nullified the work of hundreds of juries, judges and prosecutors across California’s criminal justice system. By exercising his clemency power unilaterally in the final weeks of his administration, Newsom sidestepped the legislative process that would be required to formally abolish capital punishment—something he failed to achieve during eight years as governor despite death row in California remaining occupied and capital cases continuing to move through the courts.

The commutations raise questions about executive overreach. Newsom’s authority to grant clemency is vested in the governor’s office, but the scale of the action—affecting more than five hundred individuals simultaneously in a single order—represents an extraordinary exercise of that power without legislative authorization or public referendum. California voters rejected abolishing the death penalty twice. Newsom gave them the result they voted against anyway.

Observers noted the political calculation behind the timing. Executing the commutations two days after midterm elections, when Newsom no longer faced voters and entered lame-duck status, allowed him to make a sweeping policy pronouncement without electoral consequences. The action generates historical weight—cementing Newsom’s legacy on a marquee criminal justice issue—while voters cannot hold him accountable through a subsequent election. He is out the door in weeks.

The absence of legislative debate or public hearing prior to the commutations distinguishes this approach from the democratic processes voters participated in during the 2012 and 2016 ballot initiatives. Those referenda represented direct democracy on the question of capital punishment. The commutations represent executive fiat in the final stretch of a term.

Newsom issued the commutations after serving as governor for eight years. During that time he failed to get rid of the death penalty through the legislature or another ballot initiative. It still exists in California. Prosecutors can still bring capital cases and juries can still sentence someone to death. Newsom’s commutations do not change the law—they simply ensure that no sentence already handed down will be carried out, leaving future administrations to decide whether to honor the verdicts of California juries or follow Newsom’s lead.

Victims’ families who waited decades following trials and convictions for sentences to be carried out now face the reality that those sentences have been voided by outgoing leadership. California voters rejected this outcome at the ballot box. Newsom delivered it anyway.