California governor commutes sentences for state's 548 death row inmates

Newsom's decision comes after the high-profile botched execution of a woman in Tennessee in late September and while executions have been on the rise in the US. There are three executions scheduled for Thursday in Indiana, Florida and Alabama.

At least four of seven judges on the California Supreme Court will have to sign off on the commutations, CalMatters reported.

It is unclear how Newsom's decision will affect condemned inmates like Keith Doolin, 53, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for murdering two sex workers, Inez Espinoza and Peggy Tucker, and shooting four others. He maintains his innocence.

Doolin lived on death row at San Quentin for decades, until he was moved to another prison in 2025 when the governor announced the state would reform the prison for all…