MICHAEL RUIZ: DA identifies 49 local killers slated for Newsom's death row clemency — and their crimes
'BABY KILLERS, COP KILLERS' HAVE AN ALLY IN NEWSOM, MURDERED GIRL'S FATHER SAYS AMID DEATH ROW CONTROVERSY Steven Dean Gordon was already a convicted child molester when he and an accomplice killed at least four women between 2013 and 2014.
Key points
- Gavin Newsom’s commutation of the death sentences of all 548 condemned inmates in California is mercy for the wolves...while inflicting the ultimate act of cruelty on the sheep," Spitzer said in a prior statement.
- GET BREAKING NEWS BY EMAIL Newsom's office has countered that the prisoners in question are not eligible for new state parole board guidelines that critics warn could one day clear a path to freedom.
- SEND US A TIP Spitzer is among a wave of California district attorneys pushing back after Newsom's call for clemency last week.
NEWSOM BLASTED BY SHERIFF IN HIS OWN BACKYARD OVER CALIFORNIA CRIME AS VICTIMS CRY FOUL While California hasn't executed a condemned inmate in 20 years, death row inmates have largely been excluded from progressive criminal justice reforms made to lighten sentences on other offenders.
Additional details
- With death row off the table, critics like Spitzer consider them closer to further leniency — and even potential release.
- "Bedroom Basher" Gerald Parker, a serial home invasion rapist who killed five women and an unborn baby in the 1970s, remained free until DNA testing linked him to the crimes in 1996.
- He brought her to a warehouse where he sexually assaulted her, tied her up and beat her to death with a hammer and a crowbar, then kept her body in an industrial-grade freezer truck.
- A California prosecutor is highlighting the twisted impact of nearly 50 death row inmates in his county after Gov.
- Billy Joe Johnson, a White supremacist gang member, "begged for the death penalty" after his role in five murders, including that of a childhood friend and fellow gang member.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
Advertisement
Every article behind this summary — 1 article from 1 outlet
Get stories like this in your inbox.
Subscribe — it's freeOne free email at 6am — your topics, deduplicated, five minutes. No account, no paywall.