加利福尼亚州刑事辩护律师马克·杰拉戈斯表示，加州州长加文·纽森（民主党-加州）将该州所有死囚刑期减为无期徒刑的举动具有政治动机。杰拉戈斯周四加入了NewsNation的杰西·韦伯节目，并表示，尽管纽森有着力求做“正确之事”的历史，但加州州长赦免548名死囚的举动仍可能被视为政治行为。纽森在担任州长的最后几个月表示，死刑违背加州的价值观。
California Criminal Defense Attorney Mark Geragos said Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-Calif.) move to commute all death row sentences in his state was political. Geragos joined NewsNation’s Jesse Weber Thursday and said the California governor’s move to spare 548 death-row inmates could be viewed as a political move despite Newsom’s history of trying to do “the right thing.”Newsom, in his final months as governor, said the death penalty was contrary to California’s values.
“很难不从政治视角来看待加文，”杰拉戈斯说。杰拉戈斯曾代理过亨特·拜登、科林·卡佩尼克和门德斯兄弟等知名当事人，是加州刑事法律界的常青树。他说，虽然大约70%的减刑需要经过州最高法院审查，但纽森作为州长完全有权授予这些减刑。杰拉戈斯说，任何相反的论点在法律上都站不住脚。洛杉矶地方检察官、前共和党人转为非党派的内森·霍克曼周四在一份声明中批评了这一举动，称纽森没有权力在该州“废除”死刑。
“It's hard to view Gavin without viewing it through a political lens,” Geragos said. Having represented high profile clients like Hunter Biden, Colin Kaepernick and the Menendez brothers, Geragos is a mainstay in California criminal law. He said while about 70 percent of the commutations will have to be reviewed by the state Supreme Court, Newsom was fully within his rights as governor to grant these commutations. Geragos said any argument otherwise isn’t legally sound. Nathan Hockman, the former Republican turned non-partisan district attorney for Los Angeles, criticized the move in a statement Thursday, saying that Newsom did not have the right to “abolish” the death penalty in the state.
被问及这是否是一个有效的法律论点，杰拉戈斯说不是。“他并没有废除死刑，但他所做的事是在其宪法权力范围内，”杰拉戈斯说。“如果你想问谁在搞政治，毫无疑问，毫无疑问，那就是内特·霍克曼。”根据加州宪法，如果受刑人曾被判犯有两项或两项以上重罪，减刑必须经过州最高法院审查。杰拉戈斯表示，纽森的继任者、州长当选人泽维尔·贝塞拉（民主党-加州）理论上可以推翻州长的决定，如果法院未对这些案件作出裁决。“从法律上讲，这是一个有趣的问题。”
“如果那70%没有被加州最高法院裁决过，我认为会有争议的余地，”他说，“那些已经被裁决过的，我认为，如果我是代表他们辩护，那已经是既成事实，你无法扭转。”
Asked whether this was a valid legal argument, Geragos said it was not. “He's not eliminating the death penalty, but what he is doing is what's within his constitutional powers,” Geragos said. “If you want to ask who's being political, clearly, without a shadow of a doubt, it's Nate Hockman.”Under the California state constitution, commutations must be reviewed by the state’s Supreme Court if the recipients has been convicted of two or more felonies. Geragos said Newsom’s successor, Gov. -elect Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), could hypothetically reverse the governor's decision if the cases were not ruled on by the court. “It's an interesting question, legally. If the 70 percent were not ruled on by the California Supreme Court, I think there would be an argument,” The ones that have already been ruled on, I would argue, if I was representing them, that that is a fait accompli and there's nothing you can do to reverse it.”