SCUM OF THE EARTH: Some of the most infamous names taken off California's death row

On Thursday, Governor of California Gavin Newsom announced that all 548 inmates currently on the state's death row would have their death sentenced commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole.The decision has seen a mixed reaction from Californians, with some applauding the governor's decision as an act of morality, while others, including the families of some of the victims, have reacted with anger and disappointment."I wish the governor would have the kind of empathy for us that he seems to have for the cop killers, and the baby killers, and the spree killers, and the serial killers," said Marc Klaas, the father of 12-year-old Polly Klaas, who was murdered by Richard Allen Davis in 1993..Scorn also came from law enforcement with Jim Cooper, the sheriff of Sacramento County, who called on Newsom to reconsider his decision, citing the murders of a deputy and detective in his county by Luis Bracamontes. "Governor, I urge you to reconsider any proposal to commute the death sentences of all 548 people on death row, especially that of Luis Bracamontes," Cooper wrote on Twitter. .The individuals who have now been taken off death row include some of the most notorious names in American criminal history.The previously mentioned Richard Allen Davis is responsible for one of the most highly publicized murder-kidnapping cases in US history.Davis kidnapped the 12-year-old Polly Klaas from a slumber party in Petaluma, holding her and her two friends at knife point before taking off with Klaas.He later admitted to police that after kidnapping Klaas he strangled her and buried her body in a shallow grave near the city of Cloverdale.At his trial he was photographed flipping off the courtroom and then, in his testimony, implied that Klaas had been sexually assaulted by her father, causing Marc Klaas to lunge across the courtroom, enraged at the accusation.Another notable name now removed from death row is Charles Ng, the Hong Kong-born serial killer who was believed to have raped and murdered between 11 and 25 victims from 1983 and 1985..Ng, along with his accomplice Leonard Lake, was given the names of the Sex Slave Killers due to their method of murder, which involved kidnapping women and bringing them to a cabin near Wilseyville, nicknamed the dungeon, where they were tortured, raped, and murdered.At this cabin, police discovered the remains of at least 11 individuals that had been buried there by Lake and Ng but noted that the total number was likely far higher.Ng fled to Canada and lived as a vagrant in Fish Creek Provincial Park, near Calgary, until he was arrested by Calgary police after shooting a security guard in the hand as he was trying to steal a can of salmon.Following a lengthy extradition period, he was extradited back to California, where he was initially sentenced to death but will now live out the remainder of his days in prison. He is 65 at the time of writing.Randy Kraft, the famous Scorecard Killer, will also dodge the lethal injection.Kraft, who is suspected of killing between 16 and 67 young men, gained his nickname due to the discovery of a "scorecard" that he had kept during his killing spree containing cryptic references to his victims..Between 1971 and 1983, police believe that Kraft killed upwards of 67 young men between the ages of 14 and 30.Kraft also gained the nickname of the "Freeway Killer" due to his method of luring these young men. He would often offer young men he saw walking along the freeway a ride to their destination or alcohol.After giving the young men a copious amount of alcohol and/or drugs, Kraft would bound, torture, sexually abuse, and then murder them.His method of murder varied, with his victims found having been murdered by strangulation, blunt force trauma, drug overdoses, and one was even stabbed to death.During his trial in 1989, the judge, Donald A. McCartin, said that handing out the sentence of death is one of the most difficult decisions he typically has to make, but in the instance of Kraft McCartin, he stated that "he's got it coming."Other notable names include Isauro Aguirre, who, along with Pearl Fernandez, tortured and abused 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez, Pearl's son..Aguirre, who was Pearl's boyfriend at the time, had abused the boy in a multitude of ways, including beating him, locking him in cabinets, shooting him with a BB gun, and forcing him to consume cat feces, cat litter, rotten food, and his own vomit.An autopsy confirmed that Fernandez died as a result of blunt force trauma aggravated by neglect and malnutrition.Other notable inmates include Cary Stayner, the Yosemite Killer, David Carpenter, the Trailside Killer, and Jason "Jessica Marie" Hann, a transgender woman who was sentenced to death for the murder of multiple infants.

SCUM OF THE EARTH: Some of the most infamous names taken off California's death row

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