she says one of them, irving ramirez was on probation and in possession of drugs and weapons. >> so instead of running, he pulled out one of his guns and he shot dan seven times. >> ramirez is on death row. they have much in common, the two are on opposite sides of an emotional ballot battle over the death penalty. proposition 62 would abolish capitol punishment in california replacing witness a life sentence without parole. the opposite, prop 66 would attempt to speed up the process, requiring courts to hear appeals within five years. phyllis has spent a decade tracking the case of her son's killer. >> families should not have to wait decades for justice. i won't live to my son's killer executed. i know that. >> deon wilson once pushed for the execution of her husband's killer but she says she underwent a transformation some might find hard to understand. >> i thought that is what is going to heal me. it quickly evaporated and i realized that wasn't the answer. i had to find healing another way. >> she began meeting with inmates at san quentin and arguing both of costs of the death penalty

she says one of them, irving ramirez was on probation and in possession of drugs and weapons. >> so instead of running, he pulled out one of his guns and he shot dan seven times. >> ramirez is on death row. they have much in common, the two are on opposite sides of an emotional ballot battle over the death penalty. proposition 62 would abolish capitol punishment in california replacing witness a life sentence without parole. the opposite, prop 66 would attempt to speed up the process, requiring courts to hear appeals within five years. phyllis has spent a decade tracking the case of her son's killer. >> families should not have to wait decades for justice. i won't live to my son's killer executed. i know that. >> deon wilson once pushed for the execution of her husband's killer but she says she underwent a transformation some might find hard to understand. >> i thought that is what is going to heal me. it quickly evaporated and i realized that wasn't the answer. i had to find healing another way. >> she began meeting with inmates at san quentin and arguing both of costs of the death penalty

irving ramirez shot officer neami seven times. >> at the time, my first thought was he just needs to die. that's it. and i wanted it to happen right then. >> reporter: but after ramirez received the death sentence, wilson says instead of feeling a sense of relief, she actually felt worse. >> i had always believed that getting a death penalty verdict would heal me. i believed all of the myths about it, that it kept communities safer, that it was a deterrent to crime, that it was cheaper than life without parole, and none of those things are true. 11 years have gone by, and now it's the last thing i want. >> reporter: over the years, wilson has become an advocate for criminal justice reform. she's a strong supporter of proposition 62, which would abolish the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without the possibility of parole. like prop 66, it also requires that inmates work and pay restitution to their victims. >> prop 62 isn't about coddling people who have murdered other people or have done horrible things. it's about how can we spend this money in a smart way, how can

. >> police arrested irving ramirez for the killing. >> i wanted the worst possible punishment. i wanted him to suffer. i actually advocated for him to get the death penalty. i wanted that. >> wilson got her wish. a judge sentenced him to death. he sits with 746 other prisoners on california's death row. >> i believed it's what was going to heal me. >> as that wore off. i realized that i didn't feel better. >> wilson began telling her story to prison inmates as a way to deter them from a life of crime. after hearing their stories of traumatic childhoods. her view of the death penalty changed. now she speaks out as an advocate for prop 62 which would repeal the death penalty. >> there's a whole other side of it we need to focus on. that's why i'm saying, let's just end it. >> she was a sweet little girl, a funny girl, a pretty girl. >> tragedy also thrust marc klass into a life of advocacy after his daughter polly was raped and murdered in petaluma. >> i believe that the system did exactly the right thing in this instance, and that he deserves to die for the crimes that he commit

. >> reporter: police arrested 25-year-old irving ramirez for the hearing. >> i wanted the worst punishment, i wanted him to suffer. i advocated for him to get the death penalty. >> she got her wish. a judge sentenced him to death. he sits with 746 other prisoners on california's death row. i believe was going to heal me. as that wore off i realized i didn't feel better. >> she started to tell her story to prison inmates to deter them from a life of crime. after hearing their stories of traumatic childhoods her view of the death penalty changed. now she speaks as an advocate for prop 62 which would repeal the death penalty. >> there's another side we need to focus on. that's why i'm saying let's just end it. >> she was a sweet little girl. a funny girl, pretty girl. >> tragedy also thrust mrk class -- mark klaas after his daughter was raped and murdered in 1993, career criminal, richard allen davis was convicted of the crime and also sent to death row. >> i believe the system did the right thing in this instance. he deserves to die for the crimes that he committed, as do all the others. >>

. >> reporter: police arsed 25-year-old irving ramirez for the killing. >> i wanted the worst possible punishment. impacted h impacted i wanted him to suffer. i actually advocated for him to get the death penalty. i wanted that. >> reporter: wilson got her wish. a judge sentenced ramirez to death. he now sits with 746 other prisoners on california's death row. >> i believed it's what was going to heal me. well, as that wore off, i realized that i didn't feel better. >> reporter: wilson began telling her story to prison inmates as a way to deter them from a life of crime, but after hearing their stories, her view of the death penalty changed. now she speaks out as an advocate for prop 62, which would repeal california's death penalty. >> there's a whole other side of it that we need to focus on, and that's why i'm saying let's just end it. >> i mean, she was a sweet little girl. she was a funny girl. she was a pretty girl. >> reporter: tragedy also thrust mark clas into a life of advocacy after his 12-year-old daughter, polly, was abducted, raped, and murdered in patalooma in 1993. care

. >> reporter: police arrested 25-year-old irving ramirez for the killing. >> i wanted the worst possible punishment i wanted him to suffer. i actually advocated for him to get the death penalty. i wanted that. >> reporter: wilson got her wish, a judge sentenced ramirez to death. he now sits with 746 other prisoners on california's death row. >> i believed it's what was going to heal me. as that wore off, i realized that i didn't feel better. >> reporter: wilson began telling her story to prison inmates as a way to deter them from a life of crime, but after hearing their stories of traumatic childhoods, her view of the death penalty changed. now she speaks out as an advocate for prop 62, which would repeal california's death penalty. >> a whole other side of it we need to focus on. that's why i'm saying, let's just end it. >> she was sweet little girl, she was a funny girl, a pretty girl. >> reporter: tragedy thrust mark into a life of advocacy after his 12-year-old daughter poly was abducted raped and murdered in petaluma in 1993. career criminal richard allen davis convicted of crime an