Capital punishment in California
In the U.S. state of California, capital punishment is not allowed to be carried out as of March 2019, because executions were halted by an official moratorium ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. Before the moratorium, executions had been frozen by a federal court order since 2006, and the litigation resulting in the court order has been on hold since the promulgation of the moratorium. Thus, there will be a court-ordered moratorium on executions after the termination of Newsom's moratorium if capital punishment remains a legal penalty in California by then.
The gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison prior to its disassembly in March 2019. Prior to the completion of the lethal injection room lethal injections were performed within the gas chamber with staff removing the chairs and placing a gurney within the chamber to execute an individual. It was last used to asphyxiate an individual on August 24, 1993 and last used to kill an individual via injection on January 17, 2006.
The lethal injection room at San Quentin State Prison prior to its disassembly in March 2019. It was completed in 2010 and has never been used.
The floor plan of the old intravenous execution area and the current asphyxiation area in San Quentin State Prison (labeled "injection room")
The floor plan of the intravenous execution area in San Quentin State Prison
Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 49th lieutenant governor of California from 2011 to 2019 and the 42nd mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011.
Newsom in 2024
Newsom in 1999
Newsom campaigning against Proposition 8 in 2008
Official portrait of Newsom as lieutenant governor of California
