David Westerfield kidnapped seven-year-old Danielle van Dam from her bedroom in 2002. Police found child sexual abuse material on his computer. They found Danielle's blood on his clothing and inside his motorhome. Her body was recovered 25 days later. He has been sitting on death row for 24 years.
Governor Gavin Newsom just commuted his sentence.
Newsom announced the mass commutation of 548 death row inmates on Thursday declaring the death penalty "incompatible with California values." Another 166 cases will undergo judicial review. The move effectively empties California's death row — every single inmate, regardless of the crime, regardless of what voters said they wanted.
And voters were specific. California rejected ballot initiatives to abolish the death penalty in both 2012 and 2016. They didn't just vote to keep it. They voted to speed it up. The electorate looked at the question twice in four years and gave the same answer both times: execute them faster.
Newsom's answer to that was to rename San Quentin's death row facility "The Learning Center" and hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony in February 2026. Now he's cleared the building entirely.
Christina Buttons, an investigative reporter with the Manhattan Institute who grew up next door to the Van Dam family, posted her reaction: "I have been waiting 24 years for my neighbor David Westerfield" to face justice. Twenty-four years of appeals, procedural delays, and a governor who decided the voters who elected him didn't actually mean what they said.
The cases on that commutation list aren't abstract. Isauro Aguirre tortured eight-year-old Gabriel Fernandez for eight months before killing him. The boy suffered 12 broken ribs, a fractured skull, and burns. He was forced to eat cat feces. He was bound and gagged inside a cabinet. Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami, who prosecuted the case, described it in his closing argument: "Gabriel was in agony for almost 240 days. He was humiliated, intimidated, shamed."
Aguirre's death sentence is now commuted. Same list as everyone else.
Richard Allen Davis kidnapped twelve-year-old Polly Klaas from a slumber party in 1993 and murdered her. Polly's father, Marc Klaas, has spent three decades advocating for the death penalty that was imposed on his daughter's killer. Newsom erased it with a press release.
The governor invoked religion to justify the decision. This is the same governor who ordered churches closed during COVID while keeping liquor stores open. His theological convictions appear to activate selectively.
Newsom framed this as a matter of "California values." California voters framed it differently — twice — at the ballot box. The 548 inmates on that list include men who tortured children, kidnapped little girls, and committed acts so depraved that juries of their peers unanimously chose death. Those juries were Californians too. Their values counted on the day of sentencing.
The timing is worth noting. Newsom dropped this announcement the day after a midterm election, when political attention is scattered and media bandwidth is consumed by results coverage. He waited for the one news cycle where 548 commutations might land below the fold.
Danielle van Dam was seven. Gabriel Fernandez was eight. Polly Klaas was twelve. Newsom called their killers' sentences "incompatible with California values."