Gov. Newsom Calls Death Penalty ‘A Failure’; Halts State Executions

By: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) — The clock stopped ticking Wednesday for more than 730 inmates housed on San Quentin’s Death Row including Scott Peterson, Richard Allen Davis, Charles Ng and Cary Stayner after Gov. Gavin Newsom officially signed a moratorium on executions.

There are currently 737 inmates on California’s largest-in-the-nation death row. Of those, more than six in 10 condemned California inmates are minorities, which his Newsom’s office cited as proof of racial disparities in who is sentenced to die. Since 1973, five California inmates who were sentenced to death were later exonerated.

79 condemned California inmates have died of natural causes since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1978. Another 26 committed suicide. California has executed 13 inmates, while two were executed in other states.

Full story: https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/03/13/newsom-calls-death-penalty-a-failure-halts-state-executions/