Two inmates originally on federal death row saw their sentences commuted to life without parole by President Biden, but unexpectedly, two of them are rejecting clemency.
Shannon Agofsky, 53, and Len Davis, 60, who are both in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana,
A specific case involves Davis, convicted in connection with the 1994 murder of Kim Groves. Groves, who filed a complaint against Davis when he was a police officer alleging he had assaulted a teenager in her neighborhood, was later purportedly targeted by Davis. Prosecutors accused Davis of violating Groves’ civil rights by allegedly arranging for a drug dealer to take her life.
A federal appeals court tossed out Davis’ original death sentence, but it was reinstated in 2005.
Davis “has always maintained his innocence and argued that federal court had no jurisdiction to try him for civil rights offenses,” his filing reads.
Following the commutations by President Biden, only three out of the initial 40 men on federal death row still await execution. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Both Davis and Agofsky are urging a judge to appoint a co-counsel in their requests for an injunction of the commutations.
The Justice Department issued a moratorium on executions during the Biden administration, but President-elect Trump has vowed to expand federal executions when he returns to the White House later this month.
“I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Biden said in a statement last month. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
The three federal death row inmates who were not granted clemency were Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted in the 2013 Boston marathon bombing; Dylann Roof, who was found guilty in the 2017 mass shooting at a Charleston, South Carolina, church; and Robert Bowers, who was sentenced for the 2018 mass shooting at a Pittsburgh Synagogue.
