A few weeks before Donald Trump assumes the Presidency of the United States, this Monday the outgoing president Joe Biden announced that he had pardoned the sentences of 37 out of the 40 men on death row, despite the fact that among those commuted there are individuals accused of murdering children and committing mass homicides.
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"I have dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system... Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 out of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium that my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murders," said President Biden in a statement.
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The New York Post reported that among those pardoned with this Christmas clemency, there are at least five convicted child killers and several mass murderers.
"Biden, 82 years old, granted pardon to the most violent murderers in the nation — nine of whom were deemed too dangerous to live after killing other inmates — as part of his effort to 'ensure a fair and effective justice system,' the White House said."
Joe Biden, who has expressed his opposition to the death penalty on several occasions, indicated that he condemns murderers and grieves for the victims, but he is determined to halt the death penalty at the federal level. "I cannot go back and allow a new administration to resume the executions that I stopped."
List of convicted individuals for killing children and mass murders pardoned by Biden
The Post reported that among the killers pardoned on death row is Thomas Sanders, who in 2010 kidnapped and then shot Lexis Roberts, a 12-year-old girl, four times, also cutting her throat. The incident took place in Louisiana, days after the girl witnessed him kill her mother on a road trip near the Grand Canyon.
Another person who was pardoned is Anthony Battle, sentenced for murdering a prison guard in Atlanta in 1994 while serving a life sentence for raping and killing his wife, a United States Marine.
The list includes Jorge Avila-Torrez, accused of raping and killing two girls: 8-year-old Laura Hobbs and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias. He took advantage when they were riding their bikes in their neighborhood in a suburb north of Chicago in 2005. Four years later, the man strangled 20-year-old naval officer Amanda Snell inside her barracks in Arlington, Virginia.
Another one is Louri Mikhel, accused of killing five Russians and Georgians after kidnapping them to obtain a ransom. In one of the cases, he even received payment before killing them.
Kaboni Savage was also commuted by Biden. He was sentenced for ordering the death of 12 people, including four children, as a drug dealer in Philadelphia.
Another one is James Roane, Jr. accused of the murder of 11 people as a drug dealer in Richmond, Virginia.
The three who did not receive presidential pardon were Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, accused of killing three people by bombing the Boston Marathon with his brother; Robert Bowers, convicted of killing 11 in a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018; and Dylann Roof, accused of murdering nine black churchgoers in Charleston in 2015.