LOS ANGELES (KESQ) – A nonprofit public-interest advocacy group announced a legal challenge today to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s commutation of sentences for 548 inmates on California’s death row, and Southland prosecutors quickly backed the move.
“We stand firmly with the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation in challenging this arbitrary commutation that sidelines victims’ families and disregards the will of California voters, juries and judges,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “When we bring these cases on behalf of victims’ families, we make a promise to them that if they let the justice system do its job and don’t take justice into their own hands, we will let the facts and the law play out in a courtroom. And if the facts and the law justify the ultimate penalty, that is the penalty we will seek.”
The CJLF announced the legal challenge during a news conference Thursday afternoon in Sacramento. Foundation officials were joined by representatives of groups representing crime victims, law enforcement agencies, district attorneys and probation officers…