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UPI
25-06-2025
- Politics
- UPI
Civil-rights groups urge California governor to grant clemency to all on death row
California's corrections department (such as FCI San Pedro pictured in May 2020) holds the nation's largest death row block, with 574 people, among more than 94,000 prisoners statewide. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo June 25 (UPI) -- More than 200 civil-rights groups are urging California Gov. Gavin Newsom to use his constitutional powers to commute more than 500 state death sentences. "California's death penalty system is not only broken, it is deeply racist and unconstitutional," Michael Mendoza, national criminal justice director of the New York-based justice advocacy group LatinoJustice PRLDEF, said Wednesday in a statement. The call arrives as some point to what they call an "overwhelming" amount of evidence of racial bias in how the death penalty is carried out in the state. Numerous civil rights orgs argue the death penalty is unconstitutional under the state Constitution's Equal Protection guarantees. On Thursday, scores of advocates and national civil rights leaders will gather at the state's capitol building in Sacramento to visit Newsom and deliver a signed statement by nearly 200 organizations which implores the two-term Democratic governor to grant universal clemency to all of California's 574 inmates waiting on death row. A pubic rally will start around 10:30 a.m. local time on the west steps of the capitol complex with a press conference to follow lead by leaders of renowned organized state and national groups like Clemency California coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union, National Center for LGBTQ Rights, Disability Rights California, Equal Justice Society, Chinese for Affirmative Action, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and several others. A proposed ballot measure in the 2012 election sought to eliminate California's death penalty, but it faced a narrow defeat with 53% saying keep and 47% of voters in favor of getting rid of it. "The death penalty is biased beyond repair, which is why we are a proud petitioner in the lawsuit to end California's death penalty," stated Morgan Zamora, prison advocacy manager at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, urging Newsom to "uphold California's values of dignity, human rights and equal justice by commuting the sentences of every person sitting on death row." Last year, 26 people in the United States were sentenced to death with 25 executions. Meanwhile, California's department of corrections holds the nation's largest death row block, with 574 people, among more than 94,000 prisoners in the state. The state also has one the world's single biggest death rows in which 69% are people of color and one-third Black. "The death penalty and entire criminal legal system is overrepresented with disabled people, especially disabled people of color," said Eric Harris, a spokesperson for Disability Rights California. California's high court in 2021 overturned the double murder conviction of Edward Wycoff after it was revealed that a trial judge failed to determine his mental competency. On Wednesday, Harris said DRC has "strongly" advocated to ensure that people with poor mental health, brain injury or intellectual and developmental issues are not placed on California's death row, where one-third of its population is diagnosed with a "serious" mental illness and dozens with a known intellectual disadvantage. "Many of these impacted people are undiagnosed and it is crucial that we ensure that they not be on death row," added DRC's Harris. The state previously released eight men from California's death row due to a wrongful conviction. This month, officials in Oklahoma took steps to grant a new murder trial for longtime death row inmate Richard Glossip after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in February determined his trial had been flawed. At least 4% of U.S. convicts on death are innocent, according to estimates in a 2014 study by the National Academy of Sciences. "Now is the time for California to be a beacon of light for the rest of the country by protecting the civil rights and human dignity of the state's most vulnerable residents," said Vincent Pan, a spokesman with Chinese for Affirmative Action, a San Francisco-based entity founded in 1969. In addition, advocates say its critical to acknowledge how the brains of young people don't fully develop until their mid-twenties. Nearly half of California's death row population was convicted under age 26, with two-thirds having sat for more than 20 years, dozens for more than four decades, which has resulted in "literally decades of delays caused by California's inability to provide lawyers to handle capital appeals." But while California lawmakers have previously enacted a number of legal reforms targeting the legality of sentencing young offenders who have diminished intellectual capacity, the new laws excluded death row prisoners and those serving sentences of life with no chance of parole. "Gov. Newsom has a historic opportunity to reject this legacy of racial injustice by granting universal clemency," Mendoza of LatinoJustice said Wednesday.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
Advocates urge CHP to leave Oakland city streets in wake of chase and deadly crash
The Brief Community advocates call on CHP to stop pursuing drivers on city streets They point to death of high school teacher after CHP chase Oakland police trying to amend its pursuit policy OAKLAND, Calif. - A group of community advocates called on the California Highway Patrol to stop chasing suspects on city streets, pointing to a recent chase and crash that took the life of a respected high school teacher. "I'm angry because I'm just tired of our people just dying at the hands of the system," said Phillippe Kelly of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, who joined others outside the CHP's office in Oakland at a news conference Thursday. "CHP out of Oakland," Kelly said. "No changes to OPD's chase policy and no more deaths in our name," Kelly said. The CHP declined to comment Thursday. What they're saying On May 28, CHP officers were involved in an on-again, off-again chase of an Infiniti that previously evaded Alameda County sheriff's deputies. A CHP airplane monitored the car from above. After the car hit an SUV at East 21st Street and Park Boulevard, the driver again took off, and the CHP says officers again stopped chasing the suspect. But moments later, the suspect lost control at East 21st Street and 12th Avenue, killing Castlemont High School teacher Marvin Boomer and injuring his girlfriend as they were on the sidewalk. Cat Brooks, executive director of the Anti Police-Terror Project, said the CHP "should not be engaging in 'cops and robbers' shenanigans that don't lead to actual safety." "You don't get to be here and do what you want to do. We have rules in this city, and you need to follow them," she said. Frankie Free Ramos of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice lamented the arrest of the suspect, Eric Hernandez-Garcia, 18. "We want to call out the discrepancy, the hypocrisy of locking up the young man and CHP having no accountability," she said. The backstory In March, a similar situation happened after the CHP stopped chasing an alleged drunk driver in East Oakland. The suspect continued driving recklessly and crashed, injuring a woman driving with two boys in her car. "Our streets aren't battlegrounds. They're not highways, they are fundamental public spaces," said Justin Hu-Ngyuen of Mobility Justice of Bike East Bay. The CHP cases come as Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell hopes to slightly loosen his pursuit policy by allowing officers to engage in pursuits that go over 50 mph without supervisor approval. The chief stressed, however, that he's not seeking to amend any other requirements of officers, who must still report things such as the reason for the chase, speed of the suspect and whether there are other drivers or pedestrians in the area. The chief said Thursday that he wants to find some middle ground "to provide that balance of safety to our community but also provide security to the residents regarding criminal activity." Assistant Chief James Beere said CHP officers have more latitude in chasing suspects and that Oakland officers can't pursue those wanted for property crimes. But he said OPD will use aerial footage, technology and undercover officers to play catch-up. "We will pursue if it's within our policy, and if we can't pursue, we will see you later," Beere said. Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter E-mail Henry at and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and The Source KTVU reporting, Oakland police
