Newsom orders California’s most reviled killers off death row – 10 of the worst who could benefit
Thanks to a Nov. 5 action by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, 548 inmates on the state's death row will have their sentences commuted to life in prison, as he moves to clear death row.
"I have decided to commute every death sentence," Newsom wrote in an open letter, acknowledging that he understood that the decision would anger people and hurt the victims' families who oppose it.
"I will therefore issue the same commutation to every condemned person — life without the possibility of parole, the most severe punishment I can lawfully impose and the state of California can ethically enforce," he added.
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Newsom’s announcement doesn’t automatically remove every inmate from death row. State law would require the Supreme Court’s approval to commute sentences for inmates with numerous felony convictions. This includes hundreds of inmates currently on death row.
Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom's office for comment.
California is home to some of the most notorious child murderers and serial killers, including the following 10:
In 1993, Richard Allen Davis broke into a Petaluma residence and kidnapped 12-year-old Polly Ann Klaas, who had been having a sleepover at her home with two friends. Davis strangled Polly and left her body in a remote area in Cloverdale.
In 1996, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge sentenced Davis to death. His previous crimes helped prompt California’s "Three Strikes" law.
Polly’s father, Marc Klaas, later founded the nonprofit organization, KlassKids Foundation, which ran for 30 years and assisted in the search for millions of missing children.
Between 1977 and 1994, Joseph Naso killed at least four women in Contra Costa, Marin, and Yuba counties. He became known as the "Alphabet Killer" after choosing women who had the same letters in their first and last name.
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In 2013, a Marin County Superior Court judge sentenced Naso to death.
In February 1999, Cary Stayner killed four people near Yosemite National Park.
Stayner, a handyman at the nearby Cedar Lodge, murdered Carole Sund, 42. He also murdered and sexually assaulted her daughter Juli, 15, and killed family friend, Silvina Pelosso, 16.
Months later, he beheaded a 26-year-old nature guide identified as Joie Armstrong.
In 2002, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge sentenced Stayner to death for the murders of Sund and the teen girls. He was already serving a life sentence for murdering Armstrong.
Stayner first became notable as the older brother of Steven Stayner, who escaped a 1972 kidnapping in 1980.
Between 1987 and 1998, Chester Turner raped and murdered low-income women in South Los Angeles, often abandoning their bodies in dark alleys or vacant lots.
Authorities arrested Turner in 2003, following a DNA database matching him to the victims. He became known as the "Southside Slayer" after targeting women in the South Figueroa Street corridor, between Gage Avenue and 108th Street in Los Angeles County.
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In 2007, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sentenced Turner to death for killing 10 women. In 2014, he received another death sentence for the killings of four additional women.
In 2011, Christopher Cheary murdered, raped, and tortured Sophia Acosta, identified as his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter. The incident happened while he babysat Sophia and her sister at an Exeter apartment.
The child’s mother, who was not charged in the case, reported the crime after finding Sophia unconscious with head wounds. Medical staff later testified finding internal trauma on the victim, including signs of sexual torture.
Following a 2016 conviction, a Tulare County Superior Court judge sentenced Cheary to death in 2017.
Between 1971 and 1983, Randy Kraft raped, tortured, and killed at least 16 hitchhikers and young men across Southern California, although authorities believe he murdered over 60 people.
He became known as the "Scorecard Killer" after investigators found a scorecard in his vehicle, listing victims with the locations of bodies written in code. Kraft’s killing spree ended in 1983, when California Highway Patrol officers pulled him over and found deceased Marine Terry Lee Gambrelin in his vehicle, in the front passenger seat.
Authorities linked 43 victims to coded handwriting on the scorecard, but chose to charge Kraft with 16, to narrow the burden of proof.
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In 1989, an Orange County Superior Court judge sentenced Kraft to death.
In 2013, Isauro Aguirre and his girlfriend Pearl Fernandez killed 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez after torturing him for eight months in a Palmdale residence.
The torture, in part, included depriving Gabriel of food, beating him, forcing him to eat cat feces, and locking him alone in a cabinet, with a sock shoved inside his mouth.
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In 2018, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sentenced Aguirre to death, while Fernandez received life in prison without parole.
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Between 1983 and 1985, Charles abducted, tortured and murdered at least 11 people. The murders took place at a remote cabin, known as "The Castle" in Calaveras County.
In 1989, an Orange County Superior Court judge sentenced Ng to death. Leonard Lake, a co-conspirator who committed the crimes with Ng, died by suicide during a police stand-off in 1985.
Between 1980 and 1981, David Carpenter, also known as the "Trailside Killer," raped and murdered at least seven hikers in Marin County and Santa Cruz.
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In 1984, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sentenced Carpenter to death for the Santa Cruz murders. In 1988, a San Diego County Superior Court judge sentenced him to death for the Marin County crimes.
Cherie Rhoades, the former leader of a small Northern California Indian tribe, fatally shot four people and tried to kill two more at a tribal meeting over her eviction in 2014.
She was sentenced to death in 2017.