Santa Clara County DA Rosen moves to resentence death row inmates
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(KRON) – California has not executed an inmate since 2006, but right now, 15 people are on death row in Santa Clara County. However, that could all change now that the county’s district attorney says he wants to resentence all those inmates to life without parole.
Jeff Rosen went public with his change of heart regarding the death penalty a couple of weeks ago, but now faith leaders are speaking out in favor of the decision.
It is a new perspective on justice for a longtime district attorney who spent a decade prosecuting rape and murder cases in Santa Clara County.
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Rosen says he no longer thinks the death penalty is justified, adding that while California hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, and Gov. Gavin Newsom put a moratorium on it in 2018, Santa Clara County still has 15 inmates on death row.
He says injustices like racism unfairly bring people to harsher sentences, including the death penalty. His goal now is to switch those 15 inmates’ sentences to life in prison without parole.
For local faith leaders such as San Jose Bishop Oscar Cantu, this is a progressive step. Bishop Cantu recently went to Alabama, where he met with other bishops who support getting rid of the death penalty.
“Yes we do want justice to be served but we don’t want to play God either,” Cantu said.
DA Rosen says he has spoken with many of the victims’ families in the related cases. Some support his efforts, others not so much.
But for Rosen, justice is still served as best it can, with some of the worst criminal offenders spending the rest of their lives behind bars.
“By putting them away for life, we bring them to justice in a way that’s much more fair,” he said.
The DA says it’s hard to tell how easy or difficult it will be because each of these cases will be taken individually. Rosen says the first case is set for about two months from now.
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