Follow-Up: Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez Blasts Death Sentence Commutations, Saying Killers of Two Fallen Riverside Officers Are Among Those Spared

Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez on Sunday, November 8, issued a statement blasting Governor Gavin Newsom's decision to commute the death sentences of every prisoner on California's death row. Among those spared are the killers of two Riverside Police Department members: Earl Ellis Green, who beat and gunned down Officer Ryan Patrick Bonaminio during a foot chase on November 7, 2010, and Steve Woodruff, who fatally shot Detective Charles Jacobs III in an ambush on January 13, 2001, as Jacobs responded to a loud music complaint at a downtown home in Riverside, Riverside County, California.

"The decision to commute the death sentences of the killers of Fallen Riverside Police Detective Charles 'Doug' Jacobs III and Fallen Riverside Police Officer Ryan Patrick Bonaminio brings renewed pain to families who have endured unimaginable loss," Gonzalez said. "As your police chief, I am deeply disappointed and angry about the additional hurt this decision brings them. Yesterday marked exactly 16 years since Ryan was murdered on November 7, 2010. A time to honor his life and surround his family with love instead carried the added weight of this announcement."

Jacobs was murdered on January 13, 2001, more than 25 years ago, and both men were protecting Riverside when their lives were taken, the chief said, adding that their families live with empty chairs and missed milestones. Juries heard the evidence, convicted both killers and returned death verdicts, and in Jacobs's case two separate juries reached that penalty decision years apart, he said, adding that the families should never have to wonder whether their suffering or those judgments matter, and that whatever one's views on the death penalty, the surviving families deserve compassion, support and to be heard.

Newsom issued his order on Thursday commuting the death sentences of 548 people to life without the possibility of parole, saying he concluded that the state "cannot morally kill them." The governor called the decision "among the most difficult of my career, not because I doubt it's necessary for our state, but because I know its announcement may surface excruciating memories for victims' families." Newsom instituted a moratorium on executions in 2019, and no prisoner has been executed in California since 2006. Riverside County's district attorney and sheriff previously criticized the commutations.

Related: Newsom announces plan to commute all California death sentences to life without parole

(Source: Riverside Police Department)

Source: Riverside Police Department

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：Riverside 市政厅外景（资料图）。Josiah.r.white 摄，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。/ Riverside City Hall exterior (file photo). Photo by Josiah.r.white, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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