California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he will commute the death sentences of all 548 people currently condemned in the state to life in prison without the possibility of parole^1,2,4,6.

In a letter to Californians, Newsom said he believes state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with the state's values and that California's death-penalty system cannot be fairly applied^1,2. The BBC said the change is largely symbolic in a state that has not executed anyone since 2006².

CalMatters later reported that the California Supreme Court must sign off on more than 400 of the commutations, so most people remain under death sentence until the court acts¹. The Los Angeles Times said 529 men and 19 women are in line for commutations and that about 60 percent would need high-court review before Newsom's term ends in January³.

Newsom is term-limited and due to leave office in January; Gov.-elect Xavier Becerra has said he will extend the 2019 execution moratorium, CalMatters reported^1,2. LAist, republishing CalMatters, linked a governor's office list of intended clemency recipients⁴.

Topo Padilla, president of Crime Victims United, said a governor should not undo a jury sentence because of personal belief¹. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said only the legislature or voters can eliminate the death penalty².

KCRA reported that Syntara Fuller, whose brother Michael Lyons was murdered in 1996, said the governor grouped all condemned people together rather than reviewing cases one by one⁵. Chris Guerrero, a friend of Sacramento County Deputy Danny Oliver, killed in 2018, said the announcement brought back the day Oliver died⁵.

Al Jazeera described the announcement as the largest mass clemency in U.S. history⁶. The Associated Press also reported Newsom's statement that he will commute all death sentences in the state; the wire page did not yield a full article in this newsroom's fetch⁷.

The death penalty remains on the books. Whether the California Supreme Court will recommend the multiple-felony cases, and whether unfinished requests expire when Newsom leaves office, is not established in the reporting cited here^1,2,3.