Pres. Biden commutes 37 death sentences

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Just weeks before leaving office, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most federal death row inmates.

37 federal death row inmates had their death sentences commuted by President Biden Monday morning. All 37 men – convicted of murder - will now serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Citing his moral objections to capital punishment, President Joe Biden in a statement said: “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 ... I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”

Three death row inmates did not have their death sentences commuted: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for his involvement in the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013; Dylann Roof convicted for killing nine during Bible study at this historic Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015; and, Robert Bowers, who was convicted for shooting and killing eleven worshippers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018.

President-elect Donald Trump cannot reinstate the death penalty against those 37 federal inmates. Biden’s decision does not impact the nearly 2,200 death row prisoners convicted in state courts.