President Biden commutes most federal death sentences
37 of the 40 men on death row will now be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Also: Law Dork in the media. And, for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.
Saying that he is “more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” President Joe Biden is commuting the death sentences of 37 of the 40 men on the federal death row on Monday to life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The White House announced the historic commutations on Monday morning, a ground-shifting move praised by one advocate, Equal Justice Initiative Executive Director Bryan Stevenson, as “an important turning point in ending America's tragic and error-prone use of the death penalty.”
It is a striking action that advocates and progressive lawmakers have sought from Biden for four years. The president said in a statement that he was “guided by [his] conscience” and experience in reaching Monday’s decision to commute the sentences, even as he also said that “grieve[s] for the victims of their despicable acts.“
Biden made clear that he is taking this action, in part, because Donald Trump is set to retake the presidency in less than a month. “I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” Biden said in the statement. In the first Trump administration, the Justice Department oversaw 13 executions in the final year of the administration, including the final one just four days before Biden took office.
The three men on death row whose sentences are not being commuted are Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose conviction related to his role in the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three; Dylann Roof, who killed nine in the South Carolina Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shooting; and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 in the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooting.
In the statement, Biden said they were excluded because he was only commuting sentences in “cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”
The commutations, though hopefully not his last acts of clemency, do show a different man at the end of his time in elected office than the one who supported greatly expanding the federal criminal justice system during his decades in the Senate. It is a record that led to much skepticism when, as a candidate for president in 2020, Biden pledged to eliminate the federal death penalty.
On Monday, he appeared to answer those skeptics by doing what he could to follow through with his pledge. Mostly.
On Dec. 20, the Wall Street Journal reported that Biden was “considering” taking this action — as covered at Law Dork — and that Attorney General Merrick Garland had recommended commutations in all but “a few terrorism and hate-crimes cases.” Bowers, Roof, and Tsarvaev were listed as the “possible exceptions.”
While Garland — echoing an Obama administration move — announced a moratorium on executions pending a review of execution procedures six months into the Biden administration, the Justice Department has never announced any completion of that review. In the interim, the Justice Department has defended existing death sentences on appeal and Garland has permitted prosecutions of capital cases involving terrorism charges and hate crimes.
The Death Penalty Information Center lists additional information about the 40 men who had been on death row. With the stroke of a pen on Monday, Biden has irrevocably removed 37 of them from death row.
Although progressives and anti-death penalty advocates had been urging action for years, mass commutation also was backed by some unexpected voices — including some law enforcement and some former judges — in recent months and particularly since Trump won November’s election. Law Dork has repeatedly covered the need for Biden to act, as well as others’ efforts to push for clemency.
In statements provided by the White House, many of those groups and individuals celebrated Monday’s move.
One of the former judges who urged Biden to act, Timothy Lewis, said, “I applaud President Biden for using his constitutional power in this important way. Our system of justice will be better for it.” Lewis sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit until 1999 and was appointed to the seat by George H.W. Bush.
Janai Nelson, president of the Legal Defense Fund, said the commutations “are a recognition of the racist origins and impact of the death penalty, and of the irreparably broken and inhumane system of which they are a part,” adding that they would “help cement a legacy of moral leadership.”
A retired police officer spoke out in support of the clemency granted to the man who killed his partner nearly two decades ago. “Putting to death the person who killed my police partner and best friend would have brought me no peace,” Donnie Oliverio said. “The President has done what is right here, and what is consistent with the faith he and I share.”
Those involved in the crimes and sentences are not the only people affected by Monday’s news, some noted. Those who would be responsible for carrying the sentences out are also affected.
Gary Mohr, the former Director of the Ohio Department of Corrections, said, “I am so grateful to President Biden for taking this step to ensure no federal correctional professionals will face the harm of participating in executions for the foreseeable future.”
Of course, and as seen with Biden’s recent CARES Act commutations, there will undoubtedly be extreme pushback on Monday’s death sentence commutations.
And yet, Biden took Monday’s actions even after seeing the response to those earlier commutations.
Biden’s 37 commutations — while not a complete clearing of the federal death row — send an undeniable and historic statement. In the modern era of the death penalty, since the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976 approved a state’s death penalty statute after previously issuing what amounted to a national moratorium four years earlier, eight governors have granted clemency to everyone on or many people on their state’s death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
But never the president. Until Monday.
Here is Biden’s full statement:
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.
Here is the full list of the 37 sentences commuted on Monday:
Law Dork will have more on this breaking news as circumstances warrant.
Law Dork covers the death penalty regularly. Read collected coverage here.
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