As Newsom’s term comes to an end, exonerees, victims’ families, and international coalitions are calling on the governor to commute the state’s remaining 578 death sentences
Victoria Valenzuela Prism
During his time on death row in California, before he was found innocent and exonerated, Shujaa Graham said he was beaten and spent nearly entire days in a small cell at the facility formerly known as San Quentin State Prison. Even when he was let out in the yard, he could only look up at the sky through the cage that stretched over the roof. He remembered men around him, some of whom were also innocent, sinking into depression.
But most of all, he recalled feeling despair that the state of California, which he had come to for a better life and to escape racism in the South during the 1960s, was trying to kill him.
“I’m 75 years old, but I still can’t get out of my mind when those people were telling me I wasn’t fit to live,” Graham said. “That wounded me, and I carried that with me today.”
Graham moved to Maryland after his release in 1981, where he helped end the death penalty. Now, he is working with statewide and international coalitions to urge California Gov. Gavin Newsom to grant universal clemency to people serving death sentences in the state so that no one else has to experience the dehumanization he did.
“I’m not looking for remedies, I’m just looking for justice,” Graham said. “What happened to me is gone, but what I can do in my final days is to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else. This is not just about capital punishment. It’s about social justice.”
The California Anti-Death Penalty Coalition is putting pressure on Newsom to commute the remaining 578 serving death sentences in California before his term ends in five months. The coalition includes exonerees such as Graham, loved ones of those sentenced to death, and victims’ families, as well as more than 200 organizations. The group argues that the death penalty is racist and disproportionately impacts Black people; they say the practice has a negative impact on the mental health of those serving death sentences and can end up being used by the state to kill innocent people.
In 2019, Newsom said he was committed to ending the death penalty in California. While he placed a moratorium on executions and transferred everyone from death row to other prisons, advocates say that is not enough. He has the authority to grant clemency to about 40% of people with death sentences, according to an Amnesty International press release, and can ask the state Supreme Court to recommend commuting sentences for the rest.
California is still connected to the death penalty and supporting the death penalty by maintaining this number of people under a sentence of death.Natasha Minsker, attorney and California Anti-Death Penalty Coalition member
“We need Governor Newsom to commute death sentences to bring the death penalty to an end in California,” said Natasha Minsker, an attorney and member of the California Anti-Death Penalty Coalition. “It remains a significant problem that California has such a large death row. It’s a symbol that California is still connected to the death penalty and supporting the death penalty by maintaining this number of people under a sentence of death.”
Minsker has heard stories similar to Graham’s.
“You have this image of the death penalty hanging over you every single day, and you’ve been told by society that you are worthless and don’t even deserve to live,” Minsker said. “No one should have to live like that.”
In California, eight people—all people of color—have been found innocent and exonerated from death row since 1981; there have been 202 death row exonerations nationally. Additionally, 68% of people sentenced to death in the state are people of color, and 90% of 18- to 20-year-olds who received death sentences were people of color. Individuals are 80% more likely to be sentenced to death if the victim was white.
As part of its campaign, the California Anti-Death Penalty Coalition has held a vigil outside the California State Capitol with more than 500 candles to represent each person serving a death sentence, brought civil rights and faith leaders to meet with the governor’s office, done art campaigns, and delivered petitions. The coalition has garnered more than 33,000 signatures on its petition for Newsom to enact universal clemency.
“He understands everything that’s wrong with the death penalty, and so we are calling on him to act based on his values, what he knows to be true, which is that the death penalty is fundamentally an affront to human dignity and wrong for all the reasons, racially biased, and error-prone,” Minsker said.
Minsker also said that by commuting the death sentences, Newsom would send a message to the rest of the nation. Similarly, an international coalition of 46 organizations from countries including Pakistan, Africa, Italy, Canada, Somalia, and the United Kingdom called on Newsom to commute the death sentences for the message it would send globally; 145 countries have abolished the death penalty.
“Your move towards commuting all death sentences in the U.S. state with the highest number of people under sentence of death would not only significantly change the face of the death penalty in the USA; it would also send a strong signal internationally and help us advance the cause of abolition globally,” stated a letter to Newsom signed by the 46 organizations.
Editorial Team:
Sahar Fatima, Lead Editor
Lara Witt, Top Editor
Rashmee Kumar, Copy Editor
Victoria Valenzuela is an independent journalist based in California covering issues in the criminal legal system, gender equality, activism, and social justice. She has been published in The Guardian, BuzzFeed News, LAist, Bolts, ScheerPost, and more. She is also a former intern with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, was an emerging reporter fellow with ProPublica, uprising fellow with Just Media, and part of the inaugural cohort of the Law and Justice Journalism Project. She recently graduated from the University of Southern California with a master’s degree in specialized journalism with a concentration in social justice and investigations.
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