In order to save many millions of dollars the California legislature is considering releasing 27,000 convicted felons, mostly those convicted of property crimes. They are looking at using alternative methods such as GPS, commuting the sentences of those here illegally and handing them over to the feds, forming a sentencing commission etc. Some of their ideas are worthwhile, some are bunk IMO...
They are also considering getting rid of the death penalty here because the appeals process for inmates is extremely time consuming and expensive. California death row inmates are much more likely to die from natural cause than from execution. We have 655 inmates on death row. Since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1977 there have been 13 executions, 17 deaths from inmates taking their own life and 48 inmate deaths from natural causes. Made me wonder if perhaps California's death row was the safest place to live.....
Just recently a person locally was sentenced to die by lethal injection. This criminal came into contact with a retired couple who wanted to sell their 55' yacht for 500k. The couple took him and a couple of his friends out for a test drive. Somewhere near Catalina Island the couple were overpowered and forced to sign a document of sales for the yacht. While they begged for their lives the couple were tied to the anchor and tossed overboard while alive. Their bodies were never recovered. Some people just don't deserve to live.....but live they will on California's death row....
