Two convicted murderers who were spared the death penalty under President Biden's controversial pardon last month have asked a federal court to allow them to remain on death row.
Shannon Agofsky and Len Davis, who are incarcerated at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, filed an emergency motion last week in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of the state, refusing to sign papers that would reduce their sentences to life in prison without parole. . Prevent Biden's death penalty moratorium from taking effect.
At issue is that Mr. Agofsky and Mr. Davis (both of whom maintain their innocence) believe that the 82-year-old president's commutation of their sentences will put them at a legal disadvantage when they appeal. It is said that there is. NBC News.
“Reducing the defendant's sentence while he is pursuing his case in court would deprive him of the protection of close supervision,” Agofsky's filing said, according to the newspaper. “This is an undue burden, places defendants in a fundamentally unfair position, and undermines the pending appellate process.”
Davis, however, described his current situation as a “rapidly evolving constitutional challenge'' and argued that “a death sentence would draw attention to the overwhelming misconduct he claims against the Department of Justice.'' did.
As Mr. Agofsky pointed out, death penalty appeal cases are examined more closely for errors than other cases under the enhanced scrutiny principle, but both parties benefit if they no longer face the death penalty. You will lose.
As the Supreme Court has ruled, case law does not appear to be on the side of prisoners. 1927 incident “The convict's consent is not required” for the president to “grant reprieves and pardons.”
Agofsky was sentenced to death in 2004 after being convicted of stomping and killing a fellow Texas prison inmate three years earlier.
Agofsky was serving a life sentence for murder and robbery dating back to the 1989 kidnapping and murder of a bank president before being convicted of a prison murder in 2001.
“Defendant never requested a reduction in sentence,” the filing states. “The defendant never applied for a reduction in his sentence. The defendant did not want a reduction in his sentence and refused to sign the documents submitted with the reduction.”
Agofsky, 53, maintains he is innocent of the 1989 murder of a bank president and disputes how he was charged in the trampling death.
“He doesn't want to die in prison being labeled a cold-blooded murderer,” his wife, Laura Agofsky, told NBC News.
Davis, 60, is a former New Orleans, Louisiana, police officer who was convicted of hiring a hitman to kill Kim Groves in 1994, and filed the complaint.
Davis “has always maintained his innocence,” the filing states, further arguing that the federal court that convicted him lacked jurisdiction over the case.
Agofsky and Davis were among 37 federal death row inmates pardoned by Biden, a list that also included several child murderers and mass murderers.
Three notorious federal inmates, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers, and Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, remain on death row after their sentences were not commuted.
