Calif. Gov. Newsom could go step further in opposing the death penalty

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A week after issuing an executive order imposing a blanket moratorium on the execution of California death row inmates, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he is considering a plan to prohibit any new death sentences in local criminal cases.

Newsom's pronouncement could create conflict with another top Democratic leader, state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who supports capital punishment, even though the governor said he wants to work collaboratively with the attorney general.

Newsom reiterated his desire to abolish the death penalty and said he hopes to work with Becerra and others to determine whether, as governor, he can act "on behalf of the people in this state to no longer prosecute death."

"There is a protocol of death and an administration of death in the state of California, and it consumes the court's time, it consumes the criminal justice system, it exhausts the soul and the pocketbook," Newsom