Two of the 37 federal death row inmates whose sentences were commuted to life without parole by President Biden last month have refused clemency.
Shannon Agofsky, 53, and Len Davis, 60, are in a U.S. prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Court documents say death row inmates have legal recourse and are refusing to sign paperwork to accept the president's clemency.
On December 30th, the two men filed an emergency motion in federal court asking for an injunction to halt changes to their death sentences, arguing that accepting the commuted sentences would remove strict scrutiny of death penalty appeals.
Enhanced oversight is a legal procedure in which courts scrutinize cases such as death penalty appeals for errors, since these cases are matters of life and death.
Biden announces commuting sentences of 37 federal death row inmates in final month in office
Two of the 37 federal death row inmates whose sentences were commuted to life without parole by President Biden have refused clemency. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Senator)
“Reducing the defendant's sentence while he has an active case in court deprives him of the protection of intense supervision,” Agofsky's filing said. “This is an unreasonable burden, places defendants in a fundamentally unfair position, and undermines the pending appellate process.”
Davis, a former New Orleans police officer, wrote in a filing with the Justice Department that he had “always maintained that a death sentence would focus attention on overwhelming illegality.”
But, as Davis pointed out, case law on the issue is “quite vague,” and there is no guarantee the two inmates will have their death sentences reinstated.
Notably, the Supreme Court ruled in 1927 that the president could grant probation and pardons without the convict's consent. Both inmates wrote in their filings that they had never requested a reduction in their sentences.
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A jury convicted Agofsky of the 1989 murder of Oklahoma bank president Dan Short. Prosecutors said Mr. Agofsky and his brother, Joseph Agofsky, kidnapped and killed Mr. Short, then stole $71,000 from the bank, and his body was found in a lake.
Joseph Agofsky was acquitted of murder, but sentenced to life in prison for robbery. He died in prison in 2013.
Shannon Agofsky was convicted of murder and robbery and sentenced to life in prison. He was later convicted of stomping fellow inmate Luther Plant to death while incarcerated in a Texas prison in 2001. A jury recommended the death penalty in the case in 2004.
A Texas jury recommended the death penalty after Shannon Agofsky was found guilty of killing a fellow inmate while incarcerated. (AP)
Agofsky, in a filing last week, disputes how he was charged with murder in Plant's death and also seeks to “establish his innocence in the original case for which he was imprisoned.” said.
His wife, Laura, whom he married over the phone in 2019, told NBC News that his lawyers encouraged him to seek a presidential commutation of his sentence, but he refused because he had been given access to legal counsel, which is critical for appeals as a death row inmate. Ta. She said her husband still has a lawyer who is helping with the case.
She told the media that her husband's reduced sentence was “not a victory” because she believed there was evidence to prove his innocence.
“He doesn't want to die in prison being labeled a cold-blooded murderer,” she said.
He follows 2028 Democratic nominee Biden in commuting 15 death sentences in his final day as governor.
Davis was convicted in connection with the 1994 murder of Kim Groves, a police officer accused of beating a neighborhood teenager. Prosecutors charged Davis with civil rights violations for hiring a drug dealer to kill Groves.
A federal appeals court overturned Davis' original death sentence, but it was reinstated in 2005.
Davis “has always maintained his innocence and that federal court lacked jurisdiction to try him for civil rights violations,” the filing says.
Following President Biden's commutation of sentences last month, only three of the 40 federal death row inmates have yet to be executed. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Both Mr. Davis and Mr. Agofsky are asking the judge to appoint co-counsel in their request for an injunction.
The Justice Department issued a moratorium on executions during the Biden administration, but President-elect Trump has vowed to expand the federal death penalty when he returns to the White House later this month.
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“I am more convinced than ever that we must end the death penalty at the federal level,” Biden said in a statement last month. “In good conscience, I cannot silently allow the new administration to resume the executions I had halted.”
The three federal death row inmates who were not granted clemency were Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings; Dylann Roof was convicted in the 2017 shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. and Robert Bowers, who was convicted in the 2018 shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
