President Biden is reportedly considering commuting the sentences of most, if not all, of the 40 inmates on federal death row as his term ends.
The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources, that the move would thwart President-elect Trump’s plans to streamline executions before he takes office in January.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who oversees federal prisons, recommended that Biden commute all but a few egregious sentences, the people said.
The newspaper reported that possible exceptions could include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who killed three people and injured more than 250 in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. Robert Bowers, who attacked the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, killing 11 people. and Dylann Roof, who killed nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.
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President Biden speaks about his administration’s economic strategy and the future of the American economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Among those whose death sentences could be commuted to life in prison are a former Marine who killed two young girls and later a female naval officer, and a former Marine who was convicted of kidnapping and killing a 12-year-old girl. These include a man in Las Vegas who received the treatment and a podiatrist in Chicago. Two immigrants were convicted in a kidnapping-for-ransom plot that killed five Russians and Georgians, including shooting a patient to prevent her from testifying in a Medicare fraud investigation.
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The move came after Biden, a lifelong Catholic, met with Pope Francis on Thursday. In his weekly prayer, Pope Francis called for commuting the sentences of American death row inmates.
The president’s decision could be made by Christmas, some officials said. The newspaper pointed out that the biggest issue was the scope of commuting sentences for death row inmates.
President Biden speaks at the podium (AP)
Biden is the first president to openly oppose the death penalty, declaring on his 2020 campaign website that he would “work to pass legislation to abolish the death penalty at the federal level and encourage states to follow the federal government’s example.” did.
Sources told The Associated Press that Biden initially considered an executive order in January 2021, but the White House did not issue it.
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Six months into his administration, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a moratorium on the federal death penalty for further review. As a result of this close vote, there have been no federal executions under the Biden administration.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to sarah.rumpf@fox.com and X. @s_rumpfwhitten.
