like President Biden's term As he reaches his conclusion, he is said to be considering commuting the sentences of most, if not all, of the 40 men on death row by the federal government.
The Wall Street Journal said, citing sources familiar with the matter This move was reported That would thwart President-elect Trump's plan to streamline executions as he takes office in January.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, who oversees federal prisons, has recommended that Biden commute all but a few of the egregious sentences, the sources said.
The newspaper reported that possible exceptions could include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 2013 Boston Marathon bomber who killed three people and injured more than 250 others; Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people in a 2018 attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh; and Dylann Roof, who killed nine people at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.
President Biden speaks about his administration's economic rules of the game and the future of the US economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on December 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Among those who could have their death sentences commuted to life in prison are a former Marine who killed two young girls and then a Navy officer, a Las Vegas man convicted of kidnapping and killing a 12-year-old girl, and a Chicago podiatrist who was convicted of kidnapping and killing. 12 year old girl. A patient was shot to death to prevent her from testifying in a Medicare fraud investigation, and two men were convicted in a kidnap-for-ransom scheme that led to the deaths of five Russian and Georgian immigrants.
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The move came after Biden, a lifelong Catholic, spoke with… Pope Francis Thursday. In his weekly prayer, Pope Francis asked for the sentences of condemned prisoners in America to be commuted.
Some sources said that the president's decision may be issued by Christmas. The outlet noted that the biggest question is the scope of commutations for death row inmates.
President Biden speaks on stage (AP)
Biden is the first president to publicly oppose the death penalty, and his 2020 campaign website announced that he “will work to pass legislation to repeal the death penalty at the federal level and incentivize states to follow the federal government's lead.”
In January 2021, Biden initially considered an executive order, sources familiar with the matter told The Associated Press, but the White House did not issue it.
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Six months in management, Attorney General Merrick Garland He declared a moratorium on the federal death penalty for further study. The narrow measure means there have been no federal executions under Biden.
