Thirty-seven people on death row had their sentences commutated by President Joe Biden on Monday morning and will now serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, rather than face execution.
Maintaining the tradition of offering clemency in the last few weeks of a presidency, Biden exercised his power to remove most inmates from federal death row. Only three people will remain.
It comes a little less than a month before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Unlike Biden, Trump supports the death penalty and has suggested more people should be given death sentences – though he has not offered specifics on that. Trump restarted federal executions after a 17-year pause during his first term, with 13 being carried out.
Biden, an advocate for criminal justice reform, said he was issuing the 37 commutations because “in good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
All people on death row were convicted on murder charges. The three people who remain on death row have sentences related to terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder – the exception to the commutation.
The president added, “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.”
Here is the complete list of those commutated:
Shannon Wayne Agofsky, 50, sentenced in 2004 for killing a prisoner in a federal prison in Texas.
Billie Jermone Allen, 45, and Norris G. Holder, co-defendants sentenced in 1998 for the death of a bank guard during an armed bank robbery in Missouri.
Aquilia Marcivicci Barnette, 50, sentenced in 1998 for the killing of his ex-girlfriend and a carjacker in North Carolina.
Brandon Leon Basham, 44, and Chadrick Evan Fulks, 48, sentenced in 2004 for the kidnapping and death of a woman after escaping from prison in South Carolina.
Anthony George Battle, 61, sentenced in 1997 for the killing of a prison guard in Georgia.
Meier Jason Brown, 54, sentenced in 2003 for the fatal stabbing of a postal worker in Georgia.
Carlos David Caro, 53, sentenced in 2007 for the killing of a prisoner in a federal prison in Virginia.
Wesley Paul Coonce Jr., 44, and Charles Michael Hall, 53, sentenced in 2014 for the killing of a prisoner in the mental health unit of a federal prison in Missouri.
Brandon Michael Council,38, sentenced in 2019 for the killing of two bank employees during a bank robbery in South Carolina.
Christopher Emory Cramer, 42, and Ricky Allen Fackerll, 40, co-defendants sentenced in 2018 for the killing of a fellow prisoner in a federal prison in Texas.
Len Davis, 60, sentenced in 2005 for ordering the killing of a witness for an internal affairs investigation into a police misconduct complaint against him in Louisiana.
Joseph Ebron, 45, sentenced in 2019 for the killing of a prisoner in a federal prison in Texas.
Edward Leon Fields Jr., 55, sentenced in 2005 for the fatal shooting of two campers on federal land in Oklahoma.
Marvin Charles Gabiron II, 71, sentenced in 2002 for killing a woman on federal lands in Michigan.
Edgar Baltazar Garcia, 44, and Mark Isaac Snarr, 48, sentenced in 2010 for the fatal stabbing of a fellow prisoner while in a federal prison in Texas.
Thomas Morocco Hager, 51, sentenced in 2007 for a drug-related killing in Virginia.
Richard Allen Jackson, sentenced in 2001 for the fatal shooting of a woman while on federal property in North Carolina.
Jurijus Kadamovas, 58, and Iouri Mikhel, 59, co-defendants sentenced in 2007 for the kidnappings and killings for ransom of five Russian and Georgian immigrants in California.
Daryl Lawerence, 49, sentenced in 2006 for the fatal shooting of a special-duty police officer during an attempted bank robbery in Ohio.
Ronald Mikos, 77, sentenced in 2005 for the killing of a federal grand jury witness in a Medicare fraud investigation in Illinois.
James H. Roane Jr., 57, and Richard Tipton, 53, co-defendants sentenced in 1993 for involvement in a series of drug-related killings in Virginia.
Julius Omar Robinson, sentenced for the killing of two men in drug-related episodes in Texas.
David Anthony Runyon, sentenced in 2009 for involvement in a murder-for-hire plot in Virginia.
Ricardo Sanchez Jr., 40, and Daniel Troya, 41 ,co-defendants sentenced in 2009 for involvement in the drug-related killing of a family, including two children in Florida.
Thomas Steven Sanders, 67, sentenced in 2014 for the kidnapping and death of a 12-year-old girl in Louisiana.
Kaboni Savage, 49, sentenced in 2013 for involvement in the killings of 12 people in connection with a drug enterprise in Pennsylvania.
Rejon Taylor, 39, sentenced in 2008 for the carjacking, kidnapping and death of a restaurant owner in Tennessee.
Jorge Avila Torrez, 36, sentenced in 2014 for the killing of a fellow service member in Virgina.
Alejandro Enrique Ramirez Umaña, 39, sentenced in 2010 for the fatal shooting of two brothers in North Carolina.
The three people excluded from the list of commutation are Robert D. Bowers, 52, who was sentenced in 2023 for killing 11 people during the Three of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018; Dylann Roof, 30, who was sentenced in 2017 for killing nine people during a white-supremacist motivated mass shooting in South Carolina; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 31, who was sentenced in 2015 for carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing
