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Letters

Mar. 7, 2024

Clemency for death row felons would kill the will of the voters

Gov. Gavin Newsom cannot and should not grant clemency to all death row prisoners in California, as it would violate the state constitution and the will of the voters.

Ron Matthias

Retired prosecutor who specialized in homicide appeals during his 35-year career as senior assistant attorney general in the California Attorney General's Office.

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Jason Marks argues that Gov. Gavin Newsom should issue – and the state supreme court should approve – “a mass commutation of sentences for twice-convicted felons,” including those under sentence of death. (“Blanket commutations and twice-convicted felons,” Daily Journal, Feb. 29.) As “precedent” for such a move, Marks recalls that in 2003 then-Governor George Ryan of Illinois used his clemency power to reduce the death sentences of more than 160 prisoners in that stat...

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