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When District Attorney Wagstaffe seeks the death penalty against Chunli Zhao, he will
do so in all of our names. In People v. Chunli Zhao. Mr. Zhao, a farmworker, is accused
of the fatal shooting of seven coworkers and the attempted murder of another at a
mushroom farm in Half Moon Bay after a workplace dispute in January 2023. Mr. Zhao
is 68 years old and has pleaded not guilty.
The shooting revealed the deplorable living and working conditions of farmworkers in
San Mateo County. Many farmworkers in the county are paid less than minimum wage
at $9 per hour and live on-site in shipping containers, which was the case for some of
the victims and Mr. Zhao.
The majority of San Mateo County voters are against the death penalty. The last time
this issue came to voters was in 2016 with Proposition 62. Voters in the county
resoundingly voted in favor of abolishing the death penalty (57.50% compared to
42.50%). Although DA Wagstaffe has publicly stated his views on the death penalty are
evolving, he is seeking the death penalty in Mr. Zhao’s case. In 2022, he joined San
Bernardino and Riverside DAs to have stays of execution lifted on five men on death
row. Their motion to intervene was disqualified in the federal court, but the DAs
continued to unsuccessfully appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
and U.S. Supreme Court. DA Wagstaffe is taking these positions in opposition to most
San Mateo County voters. In addition, studies show the death penalty is not an effective deterrent to reduce crime rates (states without the death penalty have lower homicide rates than states with the death penalty). And seeking the death penalty is vastly more expensive to taxpayers than life in prison, due to the length of proceedings and numberof appeals.
We should not add one more person to the long list of people who have been sentenced to death. In California there are currently 583 people who are awaiting execution. This is the largest death row in the nation and one of the largest in the world. In 2019, Governor Newsom imposed a moratorium on the death penalty, but that moratorium could be lifted when his term is up. In 2021, the California Committee on Revision of the Penal Code voted unanimously to repeal the death penalty, finding capital punishment was “plagued by legal, racial, bureaucratic, financial, geographic, and moral problems that have proven intractable.”
Despite the moratorium and the committee’s vote, the death penalty remains legal in California and prosecutors can seek it. According to the Office of the State Public Defender, it continues to be imposed disproportionately on people of color, and on people who have experienced poverty – like Mr. Zhao – and people who have experienced childhood trauma, mental illness, or intellectual disability.
The U.S. is out of step with its allies and other democracies in its continued use of the
death penalty. More than 70% of countries have abolished capital punishment in law or practice.
The death penalty is also immoral and not supported by many faiths. While no single
religious viewpoint determines law in our diverse democracy, the principles of faith
communities can be relevant to standards of decency and recognizing the dignity and
humanity of all people. The Roman Catholic Church has unambiguously opposed
capital punishment since 2018. Christian denominations, including the American
Baptist Churches, the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church, all have public positions opposing the death penalty.
The Unitarian Universalist Association actively advocates to abolish the death penalty.
Jewish tradition upholds the sanctity of life, both the Conservative and Reform
movements, have unequivocally opposed the death penalty. The death penalty is
inconsistent with Buddhist teachings of non-violence and compassion. The largest
Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization in America, the Council on American
Islamic Relations (CAIR), has called for a moratorium on the death penalty since 2011.
For all of these reasons, the death penalty has no place in our criminal legal system.
The mass shooting in Half Moon Bay is a terrible tragedy. If convicted, Mr. Zhao can be
held accountable with a life sentence.
Let’s call on DA Wagstaffe to uphold our values by urging him to not perpetuate violence by seeking the death penalty against Mr. Zhao, which will not reduce crime rates, is needlessly expensive, and debases all of us.
Jim Lawrence is the Chair of Fixin’ San Mateo County and Chowning Poppler is a
volunteer
I want to second this opinion by Mr. Lawrence and Ms. Poppler. DA Wagstaffe is once again, perusing his agenda instead of the people he is supposed to serve. He has long worked to reinstate the death penalty in SMC in spite of the fact that SMC residents have repeatedly voted it down. The US has approximately 5% of the world population and approximately 25% of the worlds incarceration. Clearly neither prison or the death penalty is the answer to the safety we all seek. How about some real solutions instead of continuing to take a ‘tough stand on crime’ that is not working for the safety of our community. Rebecca Kieler