Man sentenced to California's death row in 1982 dies of natural causes
VACAVILLE – An inmate sentenced to California's death row in 1982 for murder has died of natural causes, prison officials said Tuesday.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 71-year-old Ronald L. Sanders was pronounced deceased around 10 a.m. Sanders had been housed at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.
Officials said Sanders was sentenced in Kern County on March 3, 1982 for the murder of 29-year-old Janice Dishroon Allen. He was admitted to death row at San Quentin State Prison on June 13, 1984.
According to CDCR, Sanders is the second death row inmate to die of natural causes in less than a week.
On Friday, convicted serial killer Anthony Sully died at San Quentin at the age of 79. A former police officer, Sully was sentenced to death for the murders of five women and one man during a six-month period in 1983.
The last execution on California's death row took place in 2006. Gov. Gavin Newsom instituted a moratorium on the death penalty shortly after taking office in 2019.