You could be forgiven for thinking capital punishment is all but dead in California.
In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom halted executions and removed the gas chamber chair from San Quentin.
Yet 546 men and 18 women are still sentenced to death in the state. A new analysis from The Marshall Project and CalMatters finds this accounts for one-quarter of all death sentences in the U.S.
That leaves Newsom facing a monumental decision. As he prepares to leave office, he’s under pressure from local advocates and international human rights organizations to commute all 562 sentences, instead handing the inmates life without parole.
It would be in keeping with his strident opposition to the death penalty and would have a profound impact nationwide. But it could be a politically perilous decision for someone who appears to be preparing a run for president.
Before Newsom became governor, he told CalMatters that he’d asked his predecessor, Jerry Brown, to “solve this.” Brown didn’t, and so now Newsom is in the same position.
“While some states have gotten rid of the death penalty, and others carry out regular executions, California has ended up with a bloated, dysfunctional system that satisfies virtually nobody,” write The Marshall Project’s Maurice Chammah and Jill Castellano.
Local prosecutors have continued pursuing capital cases. Since Newsom’s moratorium, at least 25 people have received death sentences in California, with 11 of them in Riverside County.
Voters would have to repeal the death penalty in a referendum to stop new sentences altogether.
If Newsom doesn’t move to grant clemencies, he’ll leave the mess of the California death penalty to the next governor. Xavier Becerra supported the punishment when he was the state’s attorney general, but he has said he would extend the moratorium if elected. Steve Hilton has said he would rescind the moratorium, though he personally opposes the death penalty.
Read the full analysis here.
Join CalMatters on Sept. 15th in Sacramento for a conversation between author Gil Durán and political strategist Mike Madrid about Durán’s new book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy, which examines how the world’s richest men are building a new political order. A book signing and reception will follow. Register here.
Other Stories You Should Know
Is CalPERS overdoing it with pension clawbacks?
A class-action lawsuit against the California Public Employees’ Retirement System is drawing renewed scrutiny over the pension fund’s attempts to claw back huge sums of money from retirees, writes CalMatters’ Adam Ashton.
Linda Samsom is one of the retirees suing CalPERS, accusing it of ignoring a three-year statute of limitations on pension errors and alleging it hands down excessive penalties in disputes over retirees holding part-time jobs in government agencies.
After retiring from work in local government, Samsom took up a part-time job at the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department. She made about $84,000 over seven years of work there, and for that CalPERS demanded she pay back every penny she received from her monthly $10,000 pension over that period: $1,050,875.
CalPERS alleges Samsom’s employment violated state pension law because her pay rate was higher than a comparable position for a government employee, according to her lawsuit.
- Samsom: “I go from being in a panic thinking of what will happen if my pension is cut in half to being really angry that CalPERS, which I believed belonged to the retirees and the government employees, could do this to us.”
CA sues over Endangered Species Act
From CalMatters reporter Rachel Becker:
California’s beloved condors and sea otters have rebounded from the brink of extinction thanks to the Endangered Species Act. Now the state is going to court to keep the 50-year-old law intact, filing two lawsuits Wednesday to block the Trump administration’s rollback of its protections.
Attorney General Rob Bonta filed the suits with a coalition of 20 other attorneys general, adding to dozens California has already filed to combat the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda.
The complaints target the Trump administration’s revisions to the Endangered Species Act, first enacted under Republican President (and Californian) Richard Nixon.
The changes effectively open endangered species’ habitat to mining, logging and other development, and end automatic protections extended to threatened species.
- Bonta, in a statement: “The Trump Administration has continuously sought to put our ecosystems in danger, which is why we continue to take them to court.”
California Voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: A new study concludes that California’s decree to have schools start later in the morning is having positive effects, with students getting more sleep, having fewer mental health issues and scoring better in math and English.
Other things worth your time:
Ectopic pregnancy deaths have nearly doubled. It’s worse in states with abortion bans // ProPublica (free)
What happens if thousands of CA state workers strike? // Abridged (free)
Advocates, community push for Newsom signature on pair of detention centers bills // The Sacramento Bee (gift link)
Newsom’s defamation case against Fox News scheduled for trial in 2028 // Los Angeles Times (paywall)
America is losing its war against wildfire // Grist (free)
Federal judge postpones ruling on halting ICE facility construction near Gilroy // The Mercury News (gift link)
Long Beach police hid an officer’s assault conviction for years, defense attorney alleges // LAist (free)
UC is rethinking the high school courses required for admission. Here’s what to know // San Francisco Chronicle (gift link)
via CalMatters https://ift.tt/VFqta5p
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