All California Death Sentences Blocked By Gov. Newsom

SACRAMENTO, CA — Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to halt all executions for the remainder of his term, buying time for 737 condemned prisoners. The governor will sign an executive order Wednesday, imposing a moratorium on all executions.

The explosive decision affects the nation's largest death row. According to the Los Angeles Times, Newsom cited his belief that capital punishment is discriminatory, unjust and “inconsistent with our bedrock values.”

But the decision appears to go against voter sentiment. Just three years ago, voters rejected a statewide measure that would have ended the death penalty.

His critics accuse him of usurping the will of voters.

"The voters of the State of California support the death penalty. That is powerfully demonstrated by their approval of Proposition 66 in 2016 to ensure the death penalty is implemented, and their rejection of measures to end the death penalty in 2016 and 2006," Michele Hanisee, President of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys said in a written statement. "Governor Newsom, who supported the failed initiative to end the death penalty in 2006, is usurping the express will of California voters and substituting his personal preferences via this hasty and ill-considered moratorium on the death penalty."

While the decision is a literal life or death matter for hundreds of people, it's also somewhat symbolic since the state hasn't put anyone to death in 13 years. The constitutionality of the lethal injection was called into question by a series botched executions in 2006.

The announcement will not overturn any convictions nor lead to the release of inmates, but it will force the closure of the the execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison and end the state's efforts to revive a constitutional method for lethal injection, the newspaper reported.

“Our death penalty system has been – by any measure – a failure,” Newsom plans to say, according to the Sacramento Bee. “The intentional killing of another person is wrong. And as governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual.”

According to Newsom, the state's death penalty wastes billions of taxpayer dollars while disproportionately affecting minorities and the mentally ill. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, more death row inmates have committed suicide than have been executed.

The decision also removes the sense of urgency for the case of Kevin Cooper, who awaits execution for the 1983 slayings of four people in the Inland Empire. Cooper has maintained his innocence, and a massive campaign to overturn his conviction has gained ground with the help of prominent supporters including judges and politicians. Just before leaving office Gov. Jerry Brown ordered further DNA testing in Cooper's case. Cooper's is one of the state's oldest capital cases, and his supporters worried that he would be one of the first inmates executed when the state resumes executions.