California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger already has shown more compassion than his predecessor Gray Davis in parole decisions. But he's about to face a bigger test:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.... is about to face his first decision on whether a notorious killer should be executed or granted clemency.With a Feb. 10 execution date set this week for Kevin Cooper, on death row since the 1983 hatchet slayings of two adults and two children inside a house in Chino Hills, Schwarzenegger must first decide whether to take up Cooper's request for clemency.

If he does agree to consider Cooper's plea to avoid death by lethal injection, the state Board of Prison Terms will hold a public hearing in Sacramento, take a secret vote and make its confidential recommendation to Schwarzenegger.

Cooper's crime was a heinous one, and it is unlikely Gov. Arnie, a death penalty supporter, will show him mercy. Unlike parole decisions, clemency decisions are mostly about mercy. Here's the contrast to date between Gray Davis, who had a blanket policy of rejecting parole for murderers, and Arnie, who has no such policy:

On parole recommendations from the Board of Prison Terms, Schwarzenegger has already upheld four and reversed six. Davis, in contrast, reversed the board's grant of parole for all but eight convicted murderers out of nearly 300 referred to him by the Board of Prison Terms. He was also under increasing fire by judges and others who said he appeared to have a blanket policy against paroling murderers.

We'll go out on a limb here and make a bold prediciton: At least one convicted murderer sentenced to death will have his sentence commuted to life without parole by Gov. Arnie during his term as Governor. We don't think it will be Cooper--but we do expect he will weigh each case individually and find one such prisoner who deserves mercy.