When President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 death row inmates, he left behind three murderers.
The prisoners on probation – all convicted murderers – were sentenced to death and life in prison without the possibility of parole.
But the president kept three men on death row, even though he said in a statement that he was “more convinced than ever that we must end the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”
Donald Trump has made it clear that he is a staunch supporter of the death penalty. Thirteen people were executed during his first term, and he said on the campaign trail this year that he favored expanding the death penalty to include child abusers, drug dealers and people traffickers.
In announcing the commutations on Monday, Biden also said: “I cannot in good conscience stand by and let the new administration resume the executions I stopped.”
There was no explanation why he excluded the three men, but he has been accused of playing politics over concerns there could be a backlash if he pardoned high-profile killers.
Death Penalty Action said the president should “get the job done.”
The three remaining death row inmates are:
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, Boston Marathon bombing suspect. /handouts/FBI/Getty Images
On April 15, 2013, the Boston Marathon bomb attack shocked the world, killing three people and injuring more than 260 people. . He also killed MIT police officer Sean Collier while trying to escape.
Days after the explosion, his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died in a shootout with police.
The attack was intended to punish the United States for its wars in Muslim countries.
Dylann Roof
Dylann Storm Roof, pictured in his booking photo, was the main suspect in the June 18, 2015, mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina The incident resulted in 9 deaths. /Handouts/Getty Images
Dylann Roof, who shot and killed nine black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, claimed he carried out the attack with To spark a race war.
Roof, 30, opened fire at a Bible study class, killing worshipers.
He was found guilty of murder and other charges, including nine racially motivated hate crimes, and sentenced to death in 2017.
Robert Powers
Robert Powers/Police Photo
Bowers, a 50-year-old anti-Semitic truck driver who killed 11 congregants and injured seven others at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, was sentenced to death for the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.
Armed with an assault rifle and three handguns, he shot dead worshipers during a Sabbath service on Saturday morning.
He was found guilty of 63 charges related to the attacks and sentenced to death in August 2023.
