SAN QUENTIN – Condemned inmate Troy A. Ashmus, 58, was pronounced deceased on July 20, 2020, at an outside hospital from what appears to be complications related to COVID-19. An exact cause of death will be determined by the coroner.
Ashmus was admitted to state prison from Sacramento County on Sept. 18, 1985, to serve a six-year sentence for assault with intent to commit a specific sex crime. While incarcerated, he was sentenced to death on July 25, 1986, by a Sacramento County jury for first-degree murder, forcible rape, sodomy with a victim under 14 years old with force/violence, and lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 with force/violence. He had been on death row since Sept. 1, 1986.
There are currently 718 people on California’s death row. More information about capital punishment in California can be found here: https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/
Contact: CDCR Press Office, opec@cdcr.ca.gov
