After Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that he would commute every California death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole, several families of crime victims spoke in support of Newsom’s decision Monday, while others expressed anger and outrage.
The move would affect the sentences of 548 state prisoners awaiting execution in California. Nearly 40% of them can have their sentences commuted by the governor’s action because they are serving single felony sentences. The rest will need the state Supreme Court’s approval.
Among the families urging the California Supreme Court to quickly approve the governor’s proposal is Bethany Webb.
Her sister, Laura, was one of eight people killed in Seal Beach in 2011 when a gunman entered the Salon Meritage and opened fire. Her mother, Hattie, was also shot but survived the worst mass shooting in Orange County history.
The shooter was later convicted and sentenced in 2017 to eight consecutive life terms.
Webb told NBC Los Angeles that she does not believe the death penalty would have been the answer to her pain.
“I’m a mom. I have taught my children two wrongs don’t make a right,” Webb said. “This is for all of us — the people who have been fed that false narrative that someday they’re going to feel better when that person is murdered. It’s not going to happen that way. Nothing is taking this pain away.”
Webb and other crime victims also want Newsom to reallocate $150 million in cost savings from death penalty cases to trauma assistance for loved ones.
She said she wants people to remember her sister for who she was, not who killed her.
“Laura Webb is a wonderful human being. She was funny and quirky. She was more than the murder victim of one bad man,” she said. “You will notice I don’t say his name. I’m not giving him any more publicity.”
However, Steve Herr, whose son was murdered and dismembered by his neighbor in 2010, joined the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in expressing outrage last week.
Daniel Wozniak was convicted in 2015 of killing Herr’s son, Sam, and his friend Julie Kibuishi. Wozniak, who had been deeply in debt, schemed to kill Herr and steal $50,000 that Herr had saved from his service in Afghanistan, according to prosecutors.
“It affects me considerably. But I know I can speak for almost all the families who are affected by Newsom’s decree,” Herr said, adding that Newsom’s decision goes against Californians who voted in favor of the death penalty and against abolishing it. “We’re all reliving whatever we had gone through until the jury found him guilty, that the murderer was guilty and sentenced to death.”
Former California State Senate Majority Leader and lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Gloria Romero launched a Change.org petition last week to block the governor’s plan, saying she disagrees with the death penalty but respects the people of California, who voted twice to retain it.