Biden commutes death row sentences of cop killers, child murderers

Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 convicted murderers on death row and said in a White House press release on Monday morning, "I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole."

Among those with commuted sentences include Thomas Steven Sanders. He was sentenced to death row in 2014 after being convicted for the kidnap and murder of a 12-year-old girl, who he shot four times in addition to cutting her throat, per the New York Post. Among other child killers were Ricardo Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Troya. The two co-defendants were sentenced to death for the killing of a family, which included two children.

In addition to this, Biden commuted the death sentence of Daryl Lawrence, who was sentenced for the murder of a special duty police officer in 2006 in Ohio. Lawrence killed the officer during a bank robbery. Anthony Battle, another on death row, was sentenced to death for the murder of a prison guard. While he was serving time in 1994 for the rape and murder of his wife, he killed a prison guard with a hammer.

Battle's wife was a US Marine at the time of her death in 1987 at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Additionally, the grant of clemency included Jorge Avila-Torrez, who stabbed to death two little girls, aged 8 and 9. Laura Hobbs as well as Krystal Tobias were riding their bikes to school when Avila-Torrez sexually assaulted and stabbed them to death in Chicago in 2005. The convict strangled naval officer Amanda Snell in Arlington Virigina four years later when she was in her barracks.

Iouri Mikhel, another recipient of Biden's clemency granted two days before Christmas, was sentenced to death row for the murder of five immigrants after kidnapping them for ransom. Despite getting the ransom payment, he killed them anyway. Another child murderer on the list of convicts Biden granted clemency to is Kaboni Savage.

Savage was convicted of killing or ordering the killing of 12 individuals in Philadelphia when he was a drug dealer. The murders included four children.

Biden added about the three men he left on death row, "These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder."

All others on the list were convicted of at least murder. The three out of 40 who did not get a commuted death sentence included the Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who killed three people in 2013.

Robert Bowers will still be on death row for killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018. The third among those who will still be put to death is Dylann Roof, who murdered nine black people at a South Carolina church in 2015.

Biden said that the decision to commute the sentences of the 37 was "guided by [his] conscience and [his] experience as a public defender" and added that he was convinced that the US "must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level."