District Attorney Dan Dow reacted to Governor Newsom’s unilateral decision to commute all death sentences to life sentences

Author: District Attorney
Date: 11/5/2026 1:53 PM

“Governor Newsom just told the families of Rachel Newhouse, Aundria Crawford, Kesha Gurke and every other innocent victim of California's 548 condemned killers that the killers' lives matter more. Juries chose justice case by case, voters chose it five times, and one outgoing governor is trying to erase it all with a pen. This is a sickening abuse of power.” – Dan Dow, District Attorney

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Today, Governor Newsom told the families of murder victims across California that the lives of the worst of the worst killers in our state are worth more than the lives of the innocent people they murdered. With a single decision, he has moved to erase the death sentence of every one of the 548 condemned inmates in California. It is an insult to every victim's family, and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.

Every one of those sentences was reached the way justice is always reached: one case at a time. A jury convicted each defendant of first-degree murder, found at least one special circumstance true beyond a reasonable doubt, weighed the evidence in a separate penalty trial, and chose death. A trial judge reviewed each verdict, and the California Supreme Court reviewed each case on automatic appeal. It appears that the Governor set all of that aside without examining the facts of a single case.

The Governor writes that he hopes these offenders will "die in obscurity while we forever remember and honor their victims." Yet in three pages, he does not name one victim. Not one. Last month, his 57 clemency grants did not name one victim either. Honoring victims starts with saying their names. In our criminal and victim justice system, every victim deserves to be treated equally, and always fairly, with dignity and respect.

So I will say their names. Rachel Newhouse and Aundria Crawford, two young women kidnapped, raped and murdered in San Luis Obispo County by Rex Allan Krebs, a career violent felon on parole. Kesha Gurke, a 19-month-old girl tortured and murdered in Paso Robles by Michael Whisenhunt. San Luis Obispo County juries sentenced both men to death. A unanimous California Supreme Court affirmed both judgments. Their families have waited decades for the State of California to keep its word. Today, the Governor broke it.

The Governor claims that judging each case on its facts would "create two classes of murder victims." That is backwards. The People of California, not prosecutors, decided which murders deserve the ultimate punishment when they wrote the special circumstances into law. Juries applied that law to the facts of each case. Treating the man who tortured a toddler the same as every other inmate does not honor victims equally. It ignores what was done to them.

The Governor also writes that he respects the voters. The voters restored the death penalty in 1972, expanded it in 1978, refused to repeal it in 2012 and again in 2016, and on that same 2016 ballot voted to make it work more efficiently. He has now overruled all five of those votes with one signature. He writes that he alone bears responsibility for this decision. He is right. A governor who overrules the People in every capital case at once is not acting as our representative. He is acting as a sovereign king. The government of California is We the People, not one all-wise Governor.

The Governor's decision may not be final for everyone. Our Constitution does not allow a governor to commute the sentence of a person twice convicted of a felony unless the California Supreme Court recommends it, with four justices concurring. Both Rex Krebs and Michael Whisenhunt are twice-convicted felons. I respectfully call on the Justices to do what the Governor would not: examine each of these cases on its own facts and hear from the victims' families and the prosecutors before any recommendation is made.

To the families of Rachel, Aundria, and Kesha, and to every family of a murder victim in California: you have not been forgotten. This office has stood with you from the day your loved one was taken, and we will continue to stand with you now.

Submit a message to Governor Newsom at the Governor of California Contact Page.