They’ve lived through the worst horrors a family can endure, and they were promised their murdered loved ones would receive justice through an execution. They suffered through years, if not decades, of appeals and hearings where they were forced to hear the stories of their loved ones’ violent deaths graphically retold again and again.
They watched courts — and then Gov. Gavin Newsom — suspend executions. The last one was carried out in 2006, before he was elected, despite California voters repeatedly reaffirming their support for the death penalty over the past 50 years.
And then last Thursday, they learned that Newsom, in one of his final acts as governor, had commuted the death sentences to life in prison for each of the 548 murderers on death row.
“These are not just numbers on a legal document,” said Sandy Friend, whose eight-year-old son was raped, tortured and murdered by a man facing a death sentence. “Each case has a family left behind. Each case has a story of a horrific, violent end to someone’s loved one. To wipe all of that away with one stroke of a pen, without looking at the details or looking into the eyes of…
