As Gov. Gavin Newsom faces backlash for his decision to commute every California death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Los Angeles and Orange County district attorneys spoke out Thursday in opposition, backing a legal challenge to block the governor’s plan.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman released the list of all 548 inmates whose death sentences would be commuted under Newsom’s plan. He said life sentences “no longer guarantee” that death row prisoners will spend the rest of their lives in prison, pointing to the 1996 convictions of Erik and Lyle Menendez.
“When Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced in 1996, a jury gave them life without the possibility of parole, and for 30 years that sentence was in place, until the State Legislature changed the rules, giving them the possibility of parole,” Hochman said in a statement. “While the Legislature cannot touch a death sentence to create parole eligibility, it can change the rules at any moment for life-without-parole sentences.”…