SAN QUENTIN – Scott Thomas Erskine, 57, who had been on California’s death row since 2004, and Manuel Machado Alvarez, 59, who had been on death row since 1989, both died on July 3, 2020, at outside hospitals from what appear to be complications related to COVID-19.
Erskine was originally committed to CDCR from San Diego County on April 21, 1994 to serve a 70-year sentence for three counts of oral copulation with use of a firearm, one count of rape, one count of penetration with foreign object, and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. On September 1, 2004 he was condemned by San Diego County for two counts of first-degree murder with use of a firearm.
Alvarez was committed to CDCR as a condemned inmate from Sacramento County on September 14, 1989 for first-degree murder, first-degree attempted robbery, rape with force, vehicle theft, and first-degree robbery.
There are currently 722 people on California’s death row. More information about capital punishment in California can be found here: https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/
Scott Erskine
Manuel Alvarez
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