Sacramento, Calif. • Gov. Gavin Newsom not only put a moratorium on executions in California on Wednesday, he said he also may commute death sentences and is pushing to repeal capital punishment.
Newsom signed an executive order granting reprieves to all 737 condemned inmates on the nation's largest death row. That means no executions while he's governor.
He was backed by fellow Democratic lawmakers who introduced a ballot measure that would repeal the death penalty next year by putting the politically perilous issue before voters for the third time in eight years. Voters supported capital punishment in 2012 and 2016, when they voted to speed up executions by shortening appeals.