San Luis Obispo County DA asks governor not to commute California’s death sentences

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow is pushing back against the possibility that Gov. Gavin Newsom could issue a blanket commutation of California's death sentences — a move that would directly affect two of the county's most notorious capital cases and, Dow argues, hundreds of victims' families across the state.

Dow sent a letter to the governor on Friday urging him to reject any mass clemency for the 563 people currently under death sentences in California, according to a CalCoastNews report. Newsom is reportedly weighing commutations for death row inmates before leaving office, though no final decision has been announced.

For San Luis Obispo County residents, the stakes are local. Two inmates sentenced to death for crimes committed here — Rex Krebs and Michael Whisenhunt — would benefit from a blanket commutation, Dow wrote in his letter.

The local cases at issue

Krebs was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering Cal Poly student Rachel Newhouse and Cuesta College student Aundria Crawford — crimes that shocked the county in the late 1990s and remain among the most infamous in SLO County history. A jury returned a death verdict for each of the murders, and the California Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the judgment in 2019.

Whisenhunt was sentenced to death for the torture and murder of 19-month-old Kesha Gurke in Paso Robles. A jury found the torture special circumstance true and returned a death verdict; the state Supreme Court affirmed that judgment in 2008.

Both cases are examples, Dow argued, of the kind of individualized judgments that a single sweeping commutation order would erase without any examination of the underlying facts.

Dow's argument: 'Justice is always individualized'

In a statement accompanying the letter, Dow framed the issue as one of fairness to victims.

"A blanket commutation would be a slap in the face to every special-circumstance murder victim and the loved ones they left behind," Dow said. "Justice is always individualized. It depends on the particular facts and circumstances of each crime, each defendant, and each victim."

He added: "In our criminal and victim justice system, every victim deserves to be treated equally, and always fairly, with dignity and respect. The government of California is We the People, not one person overruling the voters in every capital case at once."

In the letter, Dow also urged Newsom to name the victims in any clemency decisions he makes, rather than issuing a single order covering all death row inmates.

Dow's letter laid out the legal process behind every capital sentence in California: each requires a first-degree murder conviction, at least one special circumstance found true beyond a reasonable doubt, and a separate penalty phase in which a jury weighed aggravating and mitigating evidence before choosing death. Each sentence is then reviewed by the trial judge and goes through an automatic appeal to the California Supreme Court.

A constitutional roadblock

Dow's letter also raises a constitutional point that could matter for the local cases. Because both Krebs and Whisenhunt have more than one felony conviction, the California Constitution does not allow the governor to commute their sentences unless the state Supreme Court reviews each case individually and recommends commutation with the agreement of at least four justices.

The California Constitution, Dow wrote, requires individualized review in such cases — a requirement that sits uneasily alongside the idea of a single blanket order covering all 563 death sentences.

A long-running statewide fight

The letter is the latest chapter in California's decades-long fight over capital punishment — a fight in which voters have repeatedly sided with keeping the death penalty on the books. As Dow noted, California voters restored the death penalty in 1972, expanded it in 1978, and rejected its repeal at the ballot box in both 2012 and 2016.

Newsom, however, has been a longtime opponent of capital punishment. He imposed a moratorium on executions early in his governorship, halting the death penalty in California by executive action even as the sentences themselves remained in place. Any move toward mass commutation would go further than the moratorium, converting death sentences to lesser punishments.

For the families of victims like Rachel Newhouse, Aundria Crawford and Kesha Gurke, the debate is not abstract. A blanket commutation would formally reduce the sentences of the men convicted of killing their loved ones — without, Dow argues, any review of the evidence, jury verdicts or appellate rulings that put those men on death row.

What comes next

It remains unclear when, or whether, Newsom will act on clemency for death row inmates. Dow's letter adds San Luis Obispo County's voice to what is expected to be a broader response from district attorneys and victims' advocates across the state if a blanket commutation moves forward.

If Newsom does pursue commutations in cases like Krebs's and Whisenhunt's, the California Constitution's requirement of individualized Supreme Court review — the process Dow highlighted — would likely become the central legal battleground.

Residents interested in the full details of Dow's letter can follow coverage at CalCoastNews, which first reported the story.

805.life will continue to follow this story as it develops.