00:02California Governor Gavin Newsom is leaving office in January, but before he goes, he's
00:07making one of the biggest decisions of his political career. He's sparing the lives of
00:12all 548 inmates on the state's death row. Newsom announced Thursday that he's commuting their
00:18sentences to life in prison without parole. It's the largest mass commutation of death
00:23sentences in modern American history. California has more inmates on death row than any other
00:28state in the country. Newsom explained his decision in an open letter to Californians.
00:33He wrote, State-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California's values, undermines the foundations
00:39of our legal system, and diminishes each of us. I know we cannot execute people in our
00:44imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and
00:50human decency. Death penalty opponents are already rolling out a national ad campaign
00:55praising Newsom's decision. Gavin Newsom has just taken a historic step toward ending
01:01the death penalty. Do we have the right to kill? And I don't believe we do. We're better
01:07than that. But let's take a closer look at who's on California's death row. Richard
01:12Allen Davis, who kidnapped and murdered 12-year-old Polly Kloss, and Charles Ong, convicted of killing
01:1811 people in the 1980s. Victims' families are divided. Some support Newsom's decision. Others
01:25are furious. And this isn't necessarily settled. More than half of the commutations require
01:30approval from California's Supreme Court. A victim's rights group also plans to sue.
01:36His successor, Javier Becerra, has pledged to keep the state's moratorium on executions.
01:41.
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