Biden commutes nearly all federal death sentences to life imprisonment

The US president, Joe Biden, yesterday commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates, changing their punishment to life imprisonment without parole.

- David Smith

The decision followed mounting pressure from campaigners who warned that the president-elect, Donald Trump, backed the death penalty and restarted federal executions during his first term after a 17-year hiatus.

"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.

"But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, vice-president, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted."

It is the highest number of death sentences commuted by any president in the modern era. Among those spared is Len Davis, a former New Orleans police officer who masterminded a drug protection ring involving several other officers and arranged the murder of a woman, Kim Groves, who had filed a brutality complaint against him.

Davis also helped send three men to prison for more than 28 years before they were found to have been wrongfully convicted of murder and freed in 2022.