Death row inmate sentenced in Kings County dies, California corrections officials say

A death row inmate from Kings County died Wednesday at a hospital, according to a news release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Thomas Potts was sentenced to death on July 23, 1998, for the murders of Fred and Shirley Jinks. He was sentenced by a jury in Kings County.

Potts, 71, was at San Quentin State Prison before he died at 12:23 a.m. at an outside hospital, CDCR officials said.

An autopsy will confirm the cause of death, but foul play is not suspected.

There are 728 people on California’s death row, according to the CDCR.

Since capital punishment was reinstated in 1978, 82 death row inmates have died from natural causes, 27 by suicide and 14 from other causes, the CDCR said. Six condemned inmates have a pending cause of death. Thirteen have been executed in California, one in Missouri and one in Virginia.