California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday suspended death penalty in the U.S. state, thus sparing the lives of 737 convicts.

"Those people are not going to be let out by this act, they will be held to account," Newsom told a news conference. "We don't want to join Saudi Arabia... North Korea. We don't want to be part of what is happening in Iran, in Iraq, China, Somalia, Pakistan and Egypt."

"Those are the countries that join the U.S. in executing more of their citizens than any other nations on Planet Earth."

"The death penalty has been an abject failure. It discriminates based on the color of your skin or how much money you make," he stressed. "It's ineffective, irreversible, and immoral."

"It goes against the very values that we stand for, which is why California is putting a stop to this failed system."

"I met someone yesterday who said this is about eradicating evil, and you have a responsibility to eradicate evil by executing those on death row," Newsom said.

"I met a mother who said... 'you have no right to take another life in the name of my daughter who was murdered.'"

However, U.S. President Donald Trump condemned the move, saying that it does not appease the victims' families.

"Defying voters, the Governor of California will halt all death penalty executions of 737 stone cold killers," he said. "Friends and families of the always forgotten VICTIMS are not thrilled, and neither am I!"