The state of California has not executed an inmate since Clarence Ray Allen in January 2006. In March 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-09-19, instituting an official moratorium on the death penalty across California. The executive action dismantled San Quentin’s execution chamber and halted all state-sponsored lethal injection protocols.
Furthermore, the state initiated the Condemned Inmate Transfer Program (CITP), moving death row inmates out of the historic East Block of San Quentin into general population wings across maximum-security state facilities. Condemned inmates retain their formal capital sentences, but their physical isolation has ended. Under California law, condemned inmates now integrate into high-custody environments where they must maintain jobs to pay 70% of any earnings toward restitution orders filed by victims' families.
Deleon remains housed under CDCR custody, serving out the capital sentence under the protections of the statewide execution stay. The capital conviction stands firm, having survived initial direct appeals, but lethal injection will not happen as long as the current executive moratorium and constitutional legal challenges endure.
