--- slug: the-13 title: "The 13" kind: article status: published hash: bb2f641a3e26acef4ff46f63d969ac606ceea5e089312941964d561e74bb5200 created: 2026-11-07T21:31:37.189Z updated: 2026-11-07T21:31:37.189Z summary: "" tags: [] above: [] below: [] adjacent: [] nested: [] --- # The 13 [[jason-aguirre]] [[anthony-bankston]] [[robert-bloom]] [[michael-bramit]] [[andre-burton]] [[refugio-cardenas]] [[john-holt]] [[jeffery-hronis]] [[samreth-pan]] [[david-rogers]] [[brandon-taylor]] [[billy-waldon]] [[edward-wycoff]] [[the-price-of-life-in-california]] ## Facts ```json { "claim": "CDCR's condemned list (Nov. 3, 2026) holds 561 unique persons; the governor's Nov. 5, 2026 commutation recipient list holds exactly 548; the 13-person difference is named below — 12 of the 13 are explained by documented judgment reversals, 1 (Brandon Taylor) is unexplained, and no publication has pointed the discrepancy out.", "cdcr_list": { "date": "2026-11-03", "persons": 561, "sentence_rows": 664, "source_url": "https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/condemned-inmate-list-secure-request/" }, "governor_list": { "date": "2026-11-05", "persons": 548, "distinct_cdcr_numbers": 548, "source_url": "https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/List-of-Intended-Clemency-Recipients.pdf" }, "arithmetic": "561-13=548", "split": "548 = 166 on the governor's signature alone + 382 requiring California Supreme Court concurrence (Cal. Const. art. V, §8, twice convicted of a felony)", "counting_rule": "The governor counted only persons \"now under sentence of death\" (Governor's Open Letter, Nov. 5, 2026: \"The 548 people now under sentence of death in California\"); the 12 explained absences are men whose death judgments were reversed or vacated and who are awaiting retrial or resentencing, while CDCR's list still carries them", "counting_rule_source_url": "https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/2026-11-5-26-GGN-Open-Letter-FINAL.pdf", "the_13": [ { "name": "Jason Aguirre", "mechanism": "Death judgment reversed Aug. 28, 2025 (only special circumstance reversed under retroactive AB 333); awaiting penalty retrial", "mechanism_source_url": "https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/archive/S175660.PDF" }, { "name": "Anthony Bankston", "mechanism": "Judgment of death reversed June 1, 2026 under the California Racial Justice Act (Pen. Code §745); remanded for resentencing", "mechanism_source_url": "https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/california-racial-justice-act-results-in-death-sentence-reversal-for-black-man-characterized-by-prosecutors-as-a-bengal-tiger" }, { "name": "Robert Bloom", "mechanism": "Judgment of death reversed Apr. 21, 2022 (multiple-murder special circumstance also reversed; People may retry)", "mechanism_source_url": "https://cases.justia.com/california/supreme-court/2022-s095223.pdf?ts=1650560485" }, { "name": "Michael Bramit", "mechanism": "Death sentence reversed June 30, 2022 on state habeas (ineffective assistance in jury selection and penalty phase); new penalty-phase trial granted", "mechanism_source_url": "https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/In-re-Bramit-Cal-Super-Order-Granting-Relief-2022-06-30.pdf" }, { "name": "Andre Burton", "mechanism": "Federal habeas granted; judgment vacates the conviction and sentence of death (Faretta structural error; grant later affirmed by the Ninth Circuit)", "mechanism_source_url": "https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/california/cacdce/2:1991cv01652/47623/138/0.pdf" }, { "name": "Refugio Cardenas", "mechanism": "Judgments of conviction and the judgment of death reversed Sept. 4, 2025 (gang special circumstance fails under People v. Sanchez and retroactive AB 333); limited remand", "mechanism_source_url": "https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/archive/S151493.PDF" }, { "name": "John Holt", "mechanism": "Federal habeas relief conditionally granted Apr. 27, 2023; order vacates the conviction and sentence entered May 30, 1990 (Kern County)", "mechanism_source_url": "https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/Holt-ED-Cal-Habeas-Opinion-2023-04-27.pdf" }, { "name": "Jeffery Hronis", "mechanism": "Sentence, including the death judgment, reversed Apr. 20, 2026 (retroactive Edwards/Johnson self-representation standard); convictions affirmed", "mechanism_source_url": "https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S093944.PDF" }, { "name": "Samreth Sam Pan", "mechanism": "Judgment reversed in its entirety June 1, 2026 (McCoy v. Louisiana structural error: defense counsel conceded second-degree murder over Pan's express wish to maintain innocence); CDCR's Nov. 3, 2026 list still carried him, five months later", "mechanism_source_url": "https://cases.justia.com/california/supreme-court/2026-s105403.pdf?ts=1780333418" }, { "name": "David Rogers", "mechanism": "Death sentence reversed July 15, 2019 on habeas corpus (material false evidence at the penalty phase); convictions upheld", "mechanism_source_url": "https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/archive/S084292.PDF" }, { "name": "Brandon Taylor", "mechanism": "NOT ESTABLISHED after three adversarial passes — no reversal, vacatur, habeas grant, RJA or AB 333 ruling, or resentencing found in any source searched through Nov. 7, 2026; last merits ruling is the Apr. 15, 2010 affirmance, People v. Taylor, S062562", "mechanism_source_url": "https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/2010/s062562/" }, { "name": "Billy Waldon", "mechanism": "Conviction and death sentence reversed in full Jan. 23, 2023 (improper grant of self-representation); new trial granted", "mechanism_source_url": "https://supreme.courts.ca.gov/sites/default/files/supremecourt/default/2023-01/S025520.pdf" }, { "name": "Edward Wycoff", "mechanism": "Judgment reversed in its entirety Aug. 23, 2021 (trial court failed to initiate Penal Code §§1368–1369 competency procedures); retrial possible if found competent", "mechanism_source_url": "http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/california-supreme-court-overturns-conviction-of-defendant-who-represented-himself-after-expert-deemed-him-incompetent-to-stand-trial" } ], "public_record_check": { "question": "Has any publication pointed out the 13-person discrepancy?", "answer": "no", "date": "2026-11-07", "searches_run": "News and web searches on Nov. 7, 2026: the 548/561 discrepancy in multiple phrasings; Samreth Pan's exclusion from the commutation; Brandon Taylor's exclusion", "what_exists_instead": "The two numbers have appeared side by side unexamined: the New York Post printed 561 in one paragraph and 548 twenty-two paragraphs later in the same article without remarking on the difference, and USA Today papers printed a CDCR tally of 564 beside the 548. No outlet, agency, advocate, or filing found names the 13, names any of them as excluded, or explains the mechanism." }, "traverse": { "evidence_index": "price-of-life-evidence", "sheet_id": "1a12oG5B1Yo1Y-_NGM3mJhOMt6ofFSoj5jFXhCOtiVuw", "person_objects": "each of the 13 has a person object in this graph, linked in the body" } } ```