Argued former American president Donald Trump with incumbent Joe Biden about commuting the death sentences of nearly all federal prisoners on death row, as the incoming president set in preparations to replace the Democrat in the White House.
Such announcement made by Biden as the closing event of his term at the Oval Office was that he commuted the death penalty to life without the possibility of parole for 37 out of the 40 people held in federal prisons awaiting execution. Among these people are nine convicted of killing co-inmates, four who were murdered during a bank robbery, and one for killing a guard while on duty.
“He just commuted death for 37 of the worst killers in our country,” posted Trump on Truth Social, his social media platform.
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“On hearing the acts of each, you won’t believe he did this,” he added. Makes absolutely no sense. Relatives and friends suffer further. They can’t believe this is happening!”
Biden had previously imposed a moratorium on the federal death penalty but seemed under pressure to act before leaving the White House on January 20, with indications from Republican Trump that he would reverse the moratorium.
Three men were excluded from the new ruling: one of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers, a gunman who murdered 11 Jewish worshippers in 2018, and a white supremacist who shot dead nine Black churchgoers in 2015.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said on Monday.
“But guided by my conscience and my experience … I am more convinced than ever of the necessity of ending the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot sit quietly while a new administration resumes executions I halted.