Biden Shocks Nation: Most Federal Death Sentences Commuted in Unprecedented Move

37 out of 40 federal death row convicts now have life sentences without the possibility of parole after US President Joe Biden commuted their sentences. The Boston Marathon bomber and the 2018 murderer of Jewish worshippers are among the three who are not included in the measure. “More convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Biden said in a statement. More than 2,000 persons who were found guilty and sentenced to death by state authorities are not included in his assessment.

Biden’s choice was made before to President-elect Donald Trump’s January return, during which he resumed federal executions. Biden has granted reprieves to nine inmates convicted of killing their fellow inmates, four for killings during bank robberies, and one for killing a prison officer. “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.

Among those granted clemency is Len Davis, a disgraced former New Orleans police officer who organized a woman’s murder and ran a cocaine ring with other policemen. Billie Allen, who spent 27 years on federal execution row, expressed “great relief” following Biden’s decision to shorten his sentence. Allen was found guilty of killing a security guard in a 1997 Missouri bank heist. He has consistently insisted on his innocence. Inmates at Terra Haute jail in Indiana were “excited they were no longer facing death” upon hearing the news, Allen told the BBC’s Radio 4 World Tonight program. “You have to realise that when you are facing death every day, to have that burden off you, it’s a great relief.”

When asked if the decision had angered any of the victims’ relatives, Allen responded, “I understand that for some people the death penalty is justice… but these guys in here some said that they were going to use this opportunity to do better, to be better – so maybe they can take some solace in that.” The murderer’s death sentence was mitigated, and Heather Turner, whose mother Donna Major was shot dead in a South Carolina bank heist in 2017, expressed her “hurt” and “very frustrated” feelings. “I feel that this decision comes without regard for the victims and their families,” Turner said on BBC’s World Tonight.

“To make this decision, especially at Christmas, it is gut-wrenching.” “Justice is more than just doing what is right. Additionally, it is imposing appropriate penalties. Additionally, Turner stated that she believed Biden’s decision was “politically motivated” and that “I think the consequence for murder is death.” Avowed white supremacist Dylann Roof, who shot and killed nine people, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who assisted in carrying out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, are among the three death row convicts still there Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.

Death row will also hold Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 Jewish congregants at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 during a mass shooting. As an opponent of the death sentence throughout his campaign, Biden’s Justice Department placed a federal moratorium on its application once he was elected president. Trump managed 13 fatal injection deaths in his last six months in office during his first term. When Trump restarted federal executions in July 2020, the United States had not executed federal prisoners since 2003.

Trump said he would extend the death penalty to include drug and people traffickers, as well as migrants who murder U.S. citizens, during his reelection campaign. Biden’s statement that he could not “in good conscience – stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted” seemed to allude to Trump’s ambitions. According to US law, a president’s successor cannot overturn these clemency rulings. Some Republicans criticized the president’s announcement.

On X, formerly Twitter, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas declared the Democrats “are the party of politically convenient justice” following the announcement of the commutations. “Once again, Democrats side with depraved criminals over their victims, public order, and common decency,” he stated. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Biden’s decision will not affect the 2,250 prisoners who have been given death sentences in state courts.  During Biden’s administration, the state has carried out almost 70 executions.

23 of the 50 US states have abolished the death penalty. Other states with moratoriums include Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Biden earlier this month pardoned 39 additional individuals convicted of non-violent offenses and shortened the sentences of around 1,500 others. In addition, he pardoned Hunter Biden, his son, who was being sentenced for two crimes. He was the first kid of a sitting president to be convicted of a crime after entering a guilty plea to tax charges earlier in September and was found guilty in June of unlawful drug usage while in possession of a firearm. The broad “power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment” is a constitutional mandate of the United States.