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Pres. Trump Not 'Thrilled' Gov. Newsom Halting Executions

WASHINGTON (CNN/AP) — President Donald Trump says he's not "thrilled" with California's plan to halt death penalty executions.

Gov. Gavin Newsom planned to sign an executive order Wednesday giving a reprieve to the 737 inmates on his state's death row.

Pres. Trump tweeted Wednesday that voters don't support Newsom's decision on behalf of the "737 stone cold killers."

Trump says "Friends and families of the always forgotten VICTIMS are not thrilled, and neither am I!" Trump has cultivated an image of himself as a tough-on-crime president and has said drug dealers should face the ultimate penalty.

In remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday, Newsom calls the death penalty a "failure" that has discriminated against the mentally ill, minorities and the poor. Newsom also says innocent people have been wrongly convicted and sometimes executed.

California joins Colorado, Pennsylvania and Oregon as the fourth state to place a moratorium on the death penalty. The length and reasoning for the moratoriums vary from state to state.

Executions in California were halted in 2006 when a death row inmate challenged the state's protocol for lethal injection, ensnaring California in legal challenges that continue today.

Newsom decided the moratorium was in the best interest of the state, because he believes the death penalty "is inconsistent with our bedrock values and strikes at the very heart of what it means to be a Californian."

In his speech on Wednesday, the governor will highlight the racial disparities in sentencing -- noting that 6 in 10 prisoners on California's death row are people of color -- the cost of enforcing the death penalty and the number of innocent people who have been sentenced to death.
Since 1973, a total of 164 prisoners nationally -- including five from California -- have been freed after they were wrongfully convicted, according to "The Innocence List" maintained by The Death Penalty Information Center.
(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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