President Joe Biden, in the waning days of his presidency, did what many of us had been asking him to do for quite some time. He commuted almost all of the death sentences of prisoners on federal death row. They will now be serving sentences of LIFE. In fact, he commuted all but 3, leaving the following on the row:
Robert Bowers, convicted of the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue,
Dylann Roof, convicted of the shooting at the Mother Emmanuel AME Church, and
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for the Boston Marathon bombing.
Although he took this action, he also left untouched the 4 sentenced to death on the military death row:
Ronald Gray, an Army specialist/cook who in the 1980s was convicted of rape and murder. Gray’s case was unique in that he was tried in both civilian courts and convicted of rape and murder, and received LIFE sentences, then the Army convicted him of rape and murder and sentenced him to death.
Hasan Akbar, court-martialed and sentenced to death for the murder of an Army captain and an Air Force major, and the wounding of 14 others, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Timothy Hennis, convicted of the 1985 murder of an Air Force officer’s wife and 2 of their 3 children. Civilian authorities arrested him several days later, and he was convicted of rape and murder. He was eventually granted a new trial, where he was acquitted. He went back into military service and eventually retired as a master sergeant. However, in 2006 a cold-case detective in Cumberland County obtained a DNA test from a rape kit collected at the time of the Air Force officer’s wife autopsy. The Army then pulled Hennis out of retirement, court-martialed him, and he was sentenced to death in 2010.
Nidal Hasan, an Army major and psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 30 others in a rampage at a medical clinic in Fort Hood, Texas.
There have been no military executions since 1961.
The last execution by the U.S. military was Army private John A. Bennett, who was hanged on April 13, 1961 for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year old Austrian girl.
When Biden ran for president, he had included in his platform a promise to end the use of the death penalty by the federal government. He failed to keep that promise. However, this act of clemency should cement his legacy as anti-capital punishment. His strong Catholic faith surely played a prominent role in his decision.
The incoming Trump administration has vowed to increase the use of the death penalty, so this act by Biden has saved the lives of these 37 men, at least.
The freedom-channel is proud to say that we helped to play a small role in this act of mercy.
We have fought for a long time to get this accomplished, and last night the dream came true. I was awakened by a phone call at about 3:30am to tell me the good news, and had an inbox FULL this morning when I woke up. Now, I can share it with you.
For the few of you that donate to us to help with our work, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now, back to the states!
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