Trump slams Biden for commuting sentences of death row inmates

The White House granted clemency to the “worst killers in the country,” the US president-elect has said

US President-elect Donald Trump has promised that his administration will “vigorously” pursue capital punishment for violent criminals, after outgoing President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of dozens of death row inmates. 

On Monday, Biden granted clemency to 37 of the 40 federal inmates awaiting execution, commuting their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

“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,” the outgoing president said in a statement. He insisted, however, that he “must stop” the use of capital punishment at the federal level. 

“In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted,” Biden said. In 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland imposed a moratorium on federal executions.

Trump slammed the commutations on social media. “Joe Biden just commuted the death sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our country,” he wrote on Truth Social. “When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!”

Trump vowed to instruct the Department of Justice to “vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.”

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According to the New York Post, the commutations include Thomas Sanders, who killed a 12-year-old girl and her mother in 2010. Another death row inmate who was granted clemency is Anthony Battle, who murdered a prison guard with a hammer in 1994 while serving a life sentence for raping and murdering his wife, the Post said. 

The Los Angeles Times said the clemency includes Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas, who killed five people in a kidnapping-for-ransom scheme in the early 2000s.  

Biden also granted clemency to Jorge Avila-Torrez, who sexually assaulted and stabbed to death two little girls in 2005, and four years later strangled US Navy officer Amanda Snell. 

“I’d rather see it go back to the way it was, where he was sentenced to death,” the victim’s brother, Alex Snell, told the Post. “He should have gotten that penalty.”

The family of Donna Major, a bank teller killed in a 2017 robbery by Brandon Council, whose sentence Biden commuted, has condemned the president’s actions. “I’m still angry. I’m upset that one man can make this decision without even talking to the victims, without any regard for what we’ve been through,” Major’s daughter, Heather Turner, told Fox News.

During his election campaign, Trump accused the Democrats of being lenient on violent crime, claiming they are unable to tackle illegal migration and are undermining the work of police in big cities.