Bittaker, who was sentenced to death in 1981, died at the age of 79 at San Quentin State Prison on Friday, the
California Department of Corrections said. Although there are 729 condemned inmates on California's death row, the state has not executed a prisoner since 2006, when a federal judge declared its lethal injection protocol unconstitutional. In March, Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order suspending executions, saying he was deeply troubled by the possibility that an innocent person could be put to death.