On Wednesday, President Donald Trump in a tweet opposed California Governor Gavin Newsom for his plans to suspend the death penalty in the state.
“Defying voters, the Governor of California will halt all death penalty executions of 737 stone cold killers,” Trump tweeted. “Friends and families of the always forgotten VICTIMS are not thrilled, and neither am I!”
Newsom cites the financial costs, the finality of the practice and its racial imbalance in describing it as “inconsistent with our bedrock values,” according to a statement released late Tuesday.
According to The Washington Post, the governor will use an executive order to spare the state’s death row inmates from execution, but the individuals will remain incarcerated.
The Post added that California’s 737 death row inmates make up roughly a quarter of the nation’s prisoners awaiting execution.
The Post also reported that no executions are scheduled in California, and the state last carried one out in 2006.
Voters in California rejected a 2016 measure that would have abolished the death penalty in the state.
California will join Maryland, Connecticut, Illinois, and Washington, among other states, in doing away with the death penalty.
Trump has in recent months feuded with Newsom over the state’s high-speed rail plan and government aid for wildfire victims. Newsom took office in January.
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