TCDA Statement on Commutation of All California Death Sentences
Today outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsom announced his intent to commute all 548 California death sentences to life without the possibility of parole.
For years, I have advocated for truth in sentencing for victims of violent crime and their families. The death penalty is reserved for the most egregious offenders, predominantly those who callously took the lives of multiple victims and children. These offenders have caused unimaginable grief and destruction for families and our community. I cannot implore the Governor to change his mind on this decision; that time has passed. What we can do is be available to victims’ families and support them in any way we can.
As I said in 2019 when the Governor enacted a moratorium on carrying out death sentences, I find this decision deeply offensive to the memories of murdered loved ones, here in Tulare County and throughout California. TCDA victim advocates will be contacting families affected by this decision and prosecutors will oppose any further possible sentence reductions made by these inmates.
-Tim Ward, Tulare County District Attorney
Governor Newsom previously placed a moratorium on executions in March 2019. Fifteen men from Tulare County currently sit on California’s death row.
Christopher Tobin and Richard Letner
Convicted and sentenced to death in 1990 for the 1988 home invasion robbery, attempted rape, beating and eventual stabbing murder of a 59-year-old victim.
Steven Allen Brown
Convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1988 home invasion rape, sodomy, and drowning murder of an 11-year-old girl after breaking in to her home.
George Lopez Contreras
Convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1994 murder of a 49-year-old Farmersville store owner who Contreras shot in the back during a robbery.
Juan Ramon Sanchez
Convicted and sentenced to death in 2000 for the 1997 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl as well as the murder of her mother.
Todd Givens
Convicted and sentenced to death in 2004 for the murders of two victims, a 30-year-old and 32-year-old. Givens shot, stabbed, and eventually burned the victims after luring them to his residence in 2001.
Timothy Young and Donald Young
Convicted and sentenced to death in 2006 for the 1996 murders of five victims at a Tulare bar, Pato’s Place. All the victims were killed by point blank shotgun blasts to the head after they had been robbed of approximately $300.
Rufugio (Ruben) Cardenas
Convicted and sentenced to death in 2007 for the 2003 gang shotgun murder of a 19-year-old man.
Samuel Rivera
Convicted and sentenced to death in 2008 for the 2004 gang murder of a 23-year-old man.
Christopher Cheary
Convicted in 2017 and sentenced to death in 2018 for the 2011 sexual assault, beating, and torture murder of his girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter.
Eric Jimenez
Convicted in 2018 and sentenced to death in 2019 for committing two separate homicides that occurred in 2012 and 2013 in which one victim was strangled and his body burned. Jimenez ordered the second victim’s murder while in custody.
Hernan Rodriguez
Convicted in early 2020 for the ambush shooting of several men on their lunch break while picking plums in an orchard near Dinuba. Two men were killed and a third was severely wounded.
Adrian Ortiz
Convicted in late 2020 of shooting a young father to death in his own home in front of his wife and two-week-old baby. The victim, who Ortiz did not know, witnessed Ortiz physically assault his girlfriend in front of his house. The girlfriend, an acquaintance of the victim’s wife, entered their home for protection. An armed Ortiz kicked down the door, took the victim to his kitchen, and shot him in the neck.
Noel Herrera
Convicted in 2022 of three gang shooting murders in Visalia from 2010 to 2017.
Media inquiries can be directed to the Office of the District Attorney, County of Tulare Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Alavezos (559) 636-5494