Dec 23, 2024

Biden commutes nearly all federal death sentences

Posted Dec 23, 2024 7:00 PM
According to the U.S. Attorney, in 2014, a federal jury in Louisiana decided that Thomas Sanders, 57, should be put to death for the brutal kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Lexis Roberts in the fall of 2010. Sanders drove several days across the country before he murdered the girl in a wooded area in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana. Evidence at trial established that Sanders shot Lexis Roberts four times, cut her throat, and left her body in the woods where a hunter found her body. President Biden commuted his sentence-photo Yavapai County, AZ Sheriff
According to the U.S. Attorney, in 2014, a federal jury in Louisiana decided that Thomas Sanders, 57, should be put to death for the brutal kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Lexis Roberts in the fall of 2010. Sanders drove several days across the country before he murdered the girl in a wooded area in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana. Evidence at trial established that Sanders shot Lexis Roberts four times, cut her throat, and left her body in the woods where a hunter found her body. President Biden commuted his sentence-photo Yavapai County, AZ Sheriff

BY: ASHLEY MURRAY

President Joe Biden commuted the sentences on Monday of 37 death row inmates, citing his conscience as a force behind the decision. He also left the death sentences unchanged for three men charged with hate-motivated mass shootings and terrorism.

Biden, who imposed a moratorium on federal executions during his administration, commuted the death sentences to life sentences without the possibility of parole, saying in a statement that he’s dedicated his career “to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system.”

“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,” Biden said.

“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.”

The three men Biden left on death row Monday include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, sentenced in 2015 of bombing the Boston Marathon in 2013; Dylann Roof, sentenced in 2017 of fatally shooting nine members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina; and Robert Bowers, sentenced in 2023 for the deadly shooting in 2018 that killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The president’s commutations Monday come after he commuted the sentences on Dec. 12 of 1,500 people who were placed in home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic. He also granted pardons for 39 individuals convicted of nonviolent crimes.

Biden received criticism from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and others for including among the mass commutations a Pennsylvania judge convicted in 2011 of sending children to prison in exchange for millions of dollars in kickbacks from a private jail — a crime that became known in the commonwealth as the “Cash for Kids” scheme.

Advocates for abolishing the death penalty and some U.S. House Democrats had pressured Biden to commute death penalty sentences ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Trump expedited some executions during his first term.

According to the White House, the names of the death row inmates whose sentences were commuted Monday are:

  1. Shannon Wayne Agofsky
  2. Billie Jerome Allen
  3. Aquilia Marcivicci Barnette
  4. Brandon Leon Basham
  5. Anthony George Battle
  6. Meier Jason Brown
  7. Carlos David Caro
  8. Wesley Paul Coonce, Jr.
  9. Brandon Michael Council
  10. Christopher Emory Cramer
  11. Len Davis
  12. Joseph Ebron
  13. Ricky Allen Fackrell
  14. Edward Leon Fields, Jr.
  15. Chadrick Evan Fulks
  16. Marvin Charles Gabrion, II
  17. Edgar Baltazar Garcia
  18. Thomas Morocco Hager
  19. Charles Michael Hall
  20. Norris G. Holder
  21. Richard Allen Jackson
  22. Jurijus Kadamovas
  23. Daryl Lawrence
  24. Iouri Mikhel
  25. Ronald Mikos
  26. James H. Roane, Jr.
  27. Julius Omar Robinson
  28. David Anthony Runyon
  29. Ricardo Sanchez, Jr.
  30. Thomas Steven Sanders
  31. Kaboni Savage
  32. Mark Isaac Snarr
  33. Rejon Taylor
  34. Richard Tipton
  35. Jorge Avila Torrez
  36. Daniel Troya
  37. Alejandro Enrique Ramirez Umaña
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