BREAKING: Biden commutes sentences for nearly all federal death row inmates in final month of presidency

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From the Associated Press: President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment, takes office.

The move spares the lives of people convicted in killings, including the slayings of police and military officers, people on federal land and those involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals, as well as the killings of guards or prisoners in federal facilities.

It means just three federal inmates are still facing execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history.

Fox News provided a list of some of the convicted murders who will now escape execution:

  • Marcivicci Barnette, who killed a man in a carjacking and his ex-girlfriend;
  • co-defendants Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks, who kidnapped and killed a woman after escaping prison;
  • Anthony Battle, who killed a prison guard;
  • Jason Brown, who stabbed a postal worker to death;
  • Thomas Hager, who committed a drug-related killing;
  • David Runyon, who participated in the murder-for-hire plot of a Naval officer;
  • Thomas Sanders, who kidnapped and killed a 12-year-old girl;
  • Rejon Taylor, who carjacked, kidnapped and killed a restaurant owner;
  • Alejandro Umana, who killed two brothers inside a restaurant
  • Police officer Len Davis, who ordered the murder of a witness who was part of an investigation into a misconduct complaint against him,
  • Ronald Mikos, who killed a federal grand jury witness in a Medicare fraud investigation
  • Ex-Marine Jorge Torrez who killed another servicemember
  • Billie Allen and Norris Holder, who killed a bank guard during their crime;
  • Brandon Council, who killed two bank employees;
  • Daryl Lawrence, who killed a special-duty police officer during an attempted bank robbery
  • Co-defendants James Roane, Jr., and Richard Tipton committed a series of drug-related murders as gang members with Corey Johnson, who was executed in 2021.
  • Julius Robinson killed two people over drugs
  • Co-defendants Ricardo Sanchez, Jr., and Daniel Troya, who killed a family, including two children, all over drugs.
  • Drug lord Kaboni Savage murdered or directed someone else to murder 12 people during a 16-year period – including an arson that killed six members of a federal informant’s family.
  • Edward Fields was on death row for murdering two campers on federal land,
  • Marvin Gabrion and Richard Jackson were both there for killing a woman on federal land in separate cases.
  • Co-defendants Jurijus Kadamovas and Iouri Mikhel were convicted of kidnapping and killing five Russian and Georgian immigrants for ransom.
  • The following men were sentenced to death in various cases for killing a prisoner in federal prison: Shannon Agofsky, Carlos Caro, co-defendants Wesley Coonce and Charles Hall, co-defendants Christopher Cramer and Ricky Fackrell, Joseph Ebron and co-defendants Edgar Garcia and Mark Snarr.

A statement from Biden, posted on the White House website, reads:

I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system.

Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.

Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss.

But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.

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