In one of the greatest displays of weakness in what was an administration that has lacked a spine for its entirety, Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 federal inmates from death to life in prison on December 23rd. Biden, an opponent of the federal death penalty, gave this Christmas gift to some of the worst offenders in the federal prison system to prevent the incoming Trump administration from resuming federal executions. Biden had put a moratorium on federal executions in 2021.
Biden faced significant criticism for the cowardly move, especially from some of the victim's families. The move is now facing criticism from an unlikely source...
Two of the inmates who had their sentences commuted.
Both men have requested an emergency injunction to remain on death row.
Shannon Agofsky, 53, and Len Davis, 60, who are both in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, are refusing to sign the paperwork to accept the president's clemency action due to the legal avenues they are afforded on death row, according to court documents.
The pair filed emergency motions in federal court on Dec. 30 requesting an injunction to block the change to their death sentences, saying that accepting their commutations would remove the heightened scrutiny that death penalty appeals receive.
Heightened scrutiny is a legal process in which the courts examine cases like death penalty appeals closer for errors because these cases are a matter of life or death.
Both feel that their appeals stand a better chance if they remain on death row.
"To commute his sentence now, while the defendant has active litigation in court, is to strip him of the protection of heightened scrutiny," Agofsky's filing reads. "This constitutes an undue burden, and leaves the defendant in a position of fundamental unfairness, which would decimate his pending appellate procedures."
Davis, a former New Orleans police officer, "has always maintained that having a death sentence would draw attention to the overwhelming misconduct" against the Justice Department, he wrote in his filing.
While their legal teams argue the undue burden of losing heightened scrutiny, they might not be able to decline the President's clemency.
But, as Davis noted, case law on this issue is "quite murky" and there is no guarantee the two inmates can have their death sentences restored.
Notably, the Supreme Court ruled in 1927 that a president may grant reprieves and pardons without the convict's consent. Both inmates wrote in their filings that they never requested commutation
They had their time in court and a jury of their peers found them guilty. Biden should have never done this to begin with.
— Catherine Way (@CatherineWay10) January 7, 2025
If the Biden Administration has proven anything over the last four years is that they can screw up practically anything. From the Afghanistan withdrawal to clemency, ineptitude will be a hallmark of Biden's legacy.
The ineptitude doesn't end there. As it turns out Agofsky and Davis are not the only two convicts filing lawsuits after having their death sentences commuted.
Brandon Council has been on death row since 2019, and he is trying to parlay his newly commuted sentence into a get-out-of-jail-free card.
Double Murderer Whom Biden Sprung from Death Row Is Now Demanding an Even Bigger Gift via @WestJournalism https://t.co/DGAigLzlWV
— John Ham (@BillythekidHam) January 5, 2025
Council has filed a motion in US District Court requesting a compassionate release. His legal team plans to argue that the time Council has spent in solitary confinement is akin to torture and has caused Council psychological harm.
It's highly unlikely a court would set Council free. Even the slightest chance isn't zero chance, and Council can thank Biden's need to virtue signal for whatever chance he has.
Is this The Bee?
— Sandy Johnson (@RHWOOBsandy) January 8, 2025
No, it's not the Bee, but the Biden Administration is a parody of what a presidency is supposed to be. They can't even NOT execute condemned convicts correctly. It was rumored that President Obama once said something to the effect of: You should never underestimate Joe Biden's ability to screw things up.
We don't know if Barry actually said that, but one thing has been made clear over the last four years.
If there's something to be screwed up, just leave it to Joe.
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