by Bob Walsh
Gavin Newsom, governor of the formerly great state of California announced yesterday that today he will issue reprieves for all 737 prisoners on death row in CA. This is despite the fact that the voters of California have twice in recent years voted to RETAIN capital punishment.
Since this is an executive action it is not subject to any review by anyone, except the voters, who will almost certainly completely ignore the action by the time the next election comes around.
Anybody with a brain knew this was going to happen. He can't unilaterally shitcan the law, but he can shitcan the verdicts. And it seems that he will do so, probably by the time you read this.
Your political master has spoken. What, you don't like it? Tough shit. Elections have consequences. If you elect liberal assholes, you get liberal assholeishness.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom To Stop Death Penalty In California, Giving Reprieves To 737 Death Row Inmates
LAPPL News Watch
March 13, 2019
Gov. Gavin Newsom is putting a moratorium on the death penalty in California, sparing the lives of more than 700 death-row inmates.
Newsom plans to sign an executive order Wednesday morning granting reprieves to all 737 Californians awaiting executions – a quarter of the country’s death row inmates.
His action comes three years after California voters rejected an initiative to end the death penalty, instead passing a measure to speed up executions.
Newsom says the death penalty system has discriminated against mentally ill defendants and people of color. It has not made the state safer and has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars, according to prepared remarks Newsom plans to deliver Wednesday morning when he signs the order.
3 comments:
Actually it appears this is even a bigger sleaze move than I thought. What Newsom is attempting to do is issue a unilateral administrative action memo placing a moratorium on the application of the death penalty in California. It is unlikely in the extreme that he has the legal authority to do this. He could commute the sentences of the prisoners by issuing individual pardons in each case, but he doesn't have the balls to do that. He merely wants to kick the can down the road. OF course if push came to shove he might refuse to sign a death warrant and then somebody with standing to sue would have to file for a writ of mandamus to force him to do so. He does not want to execute people. regardless of the law and regardless of the will of the people, so he will figure you some weasel move to accomplish this goal.
There's nothing to get exercised over here. This is just a feel-good action by Newsom. When was the last time anyone got executed in California ... and before that execution?
13 years. There are, however, 25 people on death row who have run out ALL of their many appeals and who could be executed tomorrow if the government had the political will to do so.
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