President Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 out of 40 federal inmates on death row Monday, including convicted murderers and predators responsible for some of the most heinous crimes in recent history.
President Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 out of 40 federal inmates on death row Monday, including convicted murderers and predators responsible for some of the most heinous crimes in recent history.
The controversial decision spares killers linked to gruesome crimes, such as family massacres, child murders, and firebombings that claimed innocent lives, reigniting debates over justice and accountability.
Among those spared execution were Ricardo Sanchez, Jr., and Daniel Troya, who brutally murdered an entire family in Florida. According to CBS affiliate 12 News, the pair shot and killed a mother, father, and their two young children during a carjacking on October 13, 2006. Prosecutors revealed the murders were ordered by their drug trafficking boss to erase a debt and steal cocaine. The victims’ bodies were found riddled with bullets along Florida’s Turnpike.
Another commuted sentence was that of Thomas Sanders, convicted in 2014 for kidnapping and murdering a 12-year-old girl. FBI records describe how Sanders shot the girl’s mother and kept the girl captive before killing her in a wooded area in Louisiana, leaving her body to be discovered by a hunter.
Philadelphia drug kingpin Kaboni Savage also had his sentence commuted. Savage was convicted of murdering 12 people, including six in a 2004 firebombing aimed at silencing an FBI informant. Among the victims were children and an infant. Despite being incarcerated at the time, Savage orchestrated the attack through phone calls and prison communications.
Three inmates remain on federal death row: Dylan Roof, who killed nine black parishioners at the Emanuel AME Church in 2015; Robert Bowers, responsible for the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue massacre; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers in 2013.
Biden’s decision has sparked fierce debate over justice and public safety, with critics arguing the commutations undermine accountability for the most violent crimes. Supporters, however, claim it aligns with broader efforts to reform the federal justice system and move away from capital punishment.
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