Biden sentences 37 of 40 federal death row inmates to life in prison so Trump can’t execute them

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Monday that he will commute the sentences of 37 of 40 inmates on federal death row, changing their sentences to life in prison, just days after President-elect Donald Trump A few weeks ago, Trump was an outspoken supporter of expanding the death penalty.

The move has saved the lives of people convicted of homicides, including the killings of police officers and military officers, people on federal lands, people involved in deadly bank robberies or drug transactions, and the killings of guards or inmates at federal facilities.

That means only three federal prisoners still face execution. They are Dylann Roof, who carried out the racist massacre of nine black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; Dzhokhar Dzhokhar, the 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Tsarnaev; Robert Bowers, who shot and killed 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018, the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.

“I have dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said in a statement. “Today, I commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal death row inmates to life in prison without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with my administration’s moratorium on federal executions, except for terrorism- and hate-motivated mass murders.

The Biden administration announced a moratorium on federal executions in 2021 to study the protocols used to suspend executions during Biden’s term. But Biden has actually pledged to go further on the issue in the past, pledging to end federal executions without warning about terrorism and mass killings motivated by hate.

While running for president in 2020, Biden’s campaign website said he would “work to pass legislation to abolish the death penalty at the federal level and inspire states to follow the federal government’s example.”

Similar language did not appear on Biden’s reelection website before he dropped out of the presidential race in July.

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and feel pain for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable losses,” Biden’s statement said. “But in my conscience And guided by 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.”

He launched a political attack on Trump, saying “I cannot in good conscience stand by and let the new administration resume the executions I stopped.”

Trump, who took office on January 20, has often talked about expanding the scale of executions. In a speech announcing his 2024 campaign, Trump called on those “arrested for selling drugs to be sentenced to death for their heinous acts.” He later pledged to execute drug and people smugglers and even praised China’s tougher treatment of drug traffickers. During his first term as president, Trump also advocated for the death penalty for drug dealers.

There were 13 federal executions during Trump’s first term, more than any president in modern history, and some of them may have been carried out quickly enough to contribute to the spread of the coronavirus on federal death row in Indiana.

It was the first federal execution since 2003. President executes federal prisoners.

Biden has recently faced pressure from advocacy groups urging him to take action to make it harder for Trump to increase the use of the death penalty against federal prisoners. The president’s announcement comes less than two weeks after he commuted the sentences of approximately 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed under home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as 39 others convicted of nonviolent crimes. The largest single-day commutation of a sentence in modern history.

Biden previously sparked an uproar in Washington when he pardoned his son Hunter after the election on federal gun and tax charges, something he had previously said he would not do. The pardons also raise questions about whether he will pursue sweeping preemptive pardons for administration officials and other allies who the White House fears may be unfairly targeted by Trump’s second administration.

Speculation that Biden might commute a federal death sentence intensified after the White House announced last week that he planned to make his final trip to Italy as president next month. Biden, a devout Catholic who will meet Pope Francis, recently called for prayers for U.S. death row inmates to have their sentences commuted.

Martin Luther King III, who has publicly urged Biden to change the death penalty, said in a statement released by the White House that the president “did what no president before him had been willing to do: take meaningful and lasting action, not just It is an acknowledgment of the racist roots of the death penalty and an attempt to correct its continuing injustice. “

Retired Ohio police officer Donnie Oliverio, whose partner was killed by one of the men seeking a death sentence instead, said executing “the man who killed my police partner and best friend would not bring me peace of mind” calm”.

“The president has done the right thing and it is consistent with the beliefs he and I share,” Olivio said in a statement released by the White House.

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Weissert reported from West Palm Beach, Florida.