SANTA ANA, Calif. – Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer on Thursday blasted Governor Gavin Newsom’s decision to commute the death sentences of all 548 inmates on California’s death row, calling the move a betrayal of crime victims and an affront to the juries that imposed those sentences.
In a statement released Thursday, Spitzer described the governor’s action as “mercy for the wolves” while inflicting “the ultimate act of cruelty on the sheep,” framing the debate as one between protecting offenders and delivering justice for victims and their families.
The commutation represents one of the most significant changes to California’s capital punishment system in decades. While California has largely suspended executions in practice for years, hundreds of inmates convicted of some of the state’s most notorious murders had remained under death sentences imposed by juries and upheld through extensive appeals.
Spitzer argued that the governor’s decision effectively nullifies verdicts reached by hundreds of juries throughout California…