Neighbor Condemns Newsom’s Commutation of Westerfield’s Death Sentence

On November 5, 2026, California Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted the death sentences of all 548 people on the state’s death row, changing their sentences to imprisonment until death, with no chance of parole. David Westerfield, convicted of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, was among them.

Christina Buttons, who was 13 and lived a few doors from van Dam’s family in San Diego County, condemned the decision. She said the murder devastated the neighborhood and contributed to her mental health struggles as a teenager. In the weeks after van Dam disappeared, Buttons developed insomnia and repeatedly checked the locks on her home, she said.

Van Dam disappeared from her home in February 2002. Her body was found beside a remote road 25 days later. Westerfield, a neighbor, was convicted after investigators found evidence linking him to the crime, including van Dam’s blood in his motor home and on his clothing. A separate conviction was for having child sexual abuse material.

Buttons said she had waited 24 years for Westerfield’s execution and argued that Newsom’s action disregarded California voters’ decisions to retain the death penalty in 2012 and 2016. She urged the California Supreme Court to overturn the commutations.

Newsom said he recognized the decision would anger and hurt some Californians, and that he accepted responsibility for its impact. He described the clemency action as a moral decision, citing concerns about executions in an imperfect legal system.

Newsom Ends Executions for 548 California Death Row Prisoners

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken a consequential step against state executions, commuting the death sentences of all 548 people on death row on November 5, 2026. Their sentences are now imprisonment until death, with no chance of parole, including that of David Westerfield, convicted of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.

Newsom said he could not reconcile executions with justice and human decency in an imperfect legal system. He also acknowledged that his decision would hurt and anger some Californians, including people affected by the crimes.

Christina Buttons, who lived near van Dam’s family and was 13 when the girl disappeared, sharply criticized the commutation. She described lasting fear and distress after the murder and said she had hoped Westerfield would be executed. Buttons also argued that voters’ decisions to retain the death penalty in 2012 and 2016 should be respected, and called on the state Supreme Court to reject the commutations.

The horror of van Dam’s murder is real, but punishment by execution cannot undo it. Newsom’s action replaces an irreversible penalty with life imprisonment, while leaving Westerfield behind bars for the rest of his life. The debate now turns on whether the governor’s exercise of clemency can stand against the demand for executions from those who want the death sentences carried out.

Newsom Overrides Voters to Spare 548 California Death Row Inmates

Gov. Gavin Newsom has wiped away the death sentences of all 548 prisoners on California’s death row, including David Westerfield, convicted of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. On November 5, 2026, Newsom changed those sentences to life without parole, preventing executions under the sentences voters had retained.

Christina Buttons, a neighbor who was 13 when van Dam disappeared, said the murder scarred her childhood and that she had waited 24 years for Westerfield’s execution. She described insomnia and repeated nighttime checks of her home’s locks after the crime. Her anger underscores the human cost that gets pushed aside when officials make sweeping decisions about punishment.

In 2012 and again in 2016, California voters opted to keep capital punishment. Buttons argues Newsom has disregarded that choice. She also says his earlier pause on executions went against voters’ wishes and is urging the California Supreme Court to reject the commutations.

Newsom framed his decision as a moral stand, saying executions cannot be reconciled with justice and human decency in an imperfect legal system. But his action does more than express a personal view: it removes the possibility of carrying out every death sentence in the state, including Westerfield’s, despite the convictions and the punishment imposed. For Buttons and others affected by van Dam’s murder, that is not an abstract debate over policy; it is a lost promise of justice.