San Andreas, CA — 548 inmates, including Charles Ng, are requested by Governor Gavin Newsom to be removed from death row and instead face life in prison.
Ng, along with Leonard Lake, tortured, raped, and killed at least 11 people in the Calaveras community of Wilseyville in the 1980s.
Click here to view an earlier story about the decision.
Many of the commutations will require a recommendation from the California Supreme Court before they are finalized.
Calaveras District Attorney Barbara Yook says, “My office will be making a motion to the California Supreme Court to unseal the Governor’s confidential request to commute Ng’s sentence. We will be seeking to uphold the verdict, and we will continue to fight for justice on behalf of crime victims.”
Yook adds, “I am shocked and appalled by the Governor’s decision – not just because of its sweeping nature, but for the callousness it demonstrates towards victims. Murder victims’ next of kin, if lucky, were notified by a form letter issued the same day as the Governor’s decision.”
Calaveras Sheriff Rachelle Whiting supports Yook’s statements. She adds, “I’m disappointed (in the Governor’s action). It is disheartening, to say the least, for many victims and families of victims impacted by the governor’s decision to unilaterally commute all death sentences.”
Yook also states, “Make no mistake. Commuting Ng’s sentence to life without the possibility of parole provides no absolute guarantee that he will remain in prison for life. The Board of Prison Terms already gives other prisoners sentenced to life without the possibility of parole what is called a ‘second chance look’ at release on parole. Should Ng’s sentence be commuted as requested by the Governor, there is nothing to prohibit a future rule change by the Board of Prison Terms that makes him eligible for release or otherwise further chips away at his sentence.”
