After President Biden moved to commute the sentences of 37 inmates on federal death row, Sen. Joe ManchinIW.Va., called the clemency granted to two individuals “misguided and horribly insulting.”
In the 37 cases, Biden commuted the sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Manchin — the Democratic senator-turned-independent who will soon leave office — said he feels a responsibility to speak out on behalf of the parents of Samantha Burns, who was killed in 2002 at age 19, according to reports.
Trump vows to restore federal executions after Biden commutes death sentences for 37 inmates
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-Va., speaks during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the diabetes special program on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 11, 2023. (Jamal Countess/Getty Images for JDRF)
“After speaking to Samantha Burns’ parents, I believe it is my duty to speak on their behalf and say that President Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences of the two men convicted of her brutal murder is horribly misguided and insulting,” the representative said in a statement. Statement published on X.
“Especially since Samantha's family wrote letters to President Biden and the Department of Justice, asking them not to do this, but their concerns went unheard. I cannot imagine the grief Kandi and John Burns are experiencing and dealing with over the holiday. “As a U.S. Senator and a father to them,” Manchin continued. I would like to express my deep sympathy for their continued suffering. Please know that Samantha will remain in our prayers forever.”
Brandon Basham is photographed after escaping from the Hopkins County Jail in Madisonville, Kentucky, on November 4, 2002. He became involved in an interstate crime spree with fellow fugitive Chadrick Fulks, which included the murders of two women. (Ashland Police Department/Getty Images)
The two men linked to the young woman's death escaped from prison and went on a crime spree in 2002, according to police. US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
“On November 4, 2002, cellmates Chadrick Fowlkes and Brandon Basham escaped from a Kentucky detention center” and “unleashed a crime rampage that lasted seventeen days and spanned several states,” according to the court, which noted that the two men “confessed By killing Burns he pleaded guilty to carjacking resulting in death in the Southern District of West Virginia.
Chadrick Fowlkes is escorted by United States Marshals out of a federal courthouse in Huntington, West Virginia, on April 12, 2005, after being indicted on charges of carjacking resulting in the death of Marshall University student Samantha Burns, and using a firearm to commit a crime. and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle. (AP Photo/Herald-Dispatch, Randy Snyder)
In a fiery Christmas Day blog post on Truth Social, Pres-elect Trump He told the 37 individuals who escaped the death penalty to “Go to hell!”
In a statement about the changes, President Biden “I condemn these killers, I mourn for the victims of their despicable acts, and I ache for all the families who have suffered an unimaginable and irreparable loss,” he said.
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President Biden speaks at the Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. on December 16. (Kevin Deitch/Getty Images)
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But he also said he was “more convinced than ever that the use of the death penalty at the federal level must be halted.”
“These commutations are consistent with my administration’s moratorium on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass killings,” Biden said.
