California’s outgoing governor Gavin Newsom (D) commuted the death sentences of all 548 on death row in one of his final acts before leaving office.

Recall that Gavin Newsom imposed an executive moratorium on death penalty executions in 2019.

On Thursday, Newsom issued a sweeping clemency action and commuted all 548 people currently on California’s death row.

“I have decided to exercise my constitutional clemency authority to commute all California death sentences to life without the possibility of parole,” Newsom wrote in a letter to “all Californians.”

Newsom can only grant clemency for single-felony convictions, which is about 40% of the death sentences, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The remaining cases require approval from four justices of the California Supreme Court.

“California voters have voted to keep the death penalty on the books and I respect that,” Newsom wrote. “But the constitution also gave every governor clemency authority, and that power exists for moments when law as applied cannot be squared with justice. For me, this is that moment.”

“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundation of our legal system, and diminishes each of us,” Newsom wrote.

“I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency,” Newsom said.

Thirteen California death row inmates have been executed since 1978.

Radical Democrat Xavier Becerra won the California governor race on Tuesday.

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