The furious brother of a young female naval officer murdered by one of his “despicable” pardonees says President Biden needs to explain his commutation of his death sentence “to his face.”
Alex Snell, 42, said of Jorge Avila-Torres, who strangled and killed Snell's 20-year-old sister, Amanda Snell, “I want him to go back to the way he was when he was sentenced to death.'' ” he said. July 2009 at barracks in Arlington, Virginia.
“He deserved that punishment,” Snell told the Post about the killer who sexually assaulted and murdered two young girls and raped a graduate student.
In a sweeping act of clemency, Biden reduced the death sentences of 37 of the 40 current federal death row inmates to life in prison without parole.
Snell said he was “in disbelief” when he learned that Biden had rubbed salt into the wounds of grieving families by issuing a commutation two days before Christmas, adding that he was “furious that justice has not been served.” I feel that,” he said.
“Why should he receive special treatment? He's going to put others at risk,” Snell said of Avila-Torres.
“What is justification? [Biden] Do you have to do this? We want him to explain to our face why he chose to show mercy to them when he did not show mercy to others. ”
The brutality of Avila-Torres' crime stands out among the list of the country's worst criminals.
In addition to killing Amanda Snell, Avila Torres also killed two girls, Laura Hobbs, 8, and Krystal Hobbs, 8, while they were riding their bicycles in a neighborhood in Chicago's north suburbs in May 2005. Tobias, 9, was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death.
Hobbs' father, Jerry Hobbs, now deceased, was wrongly imprisoned for five years awaiting trial until Avila-Torrez was declared the real killer of Laura.
Avila-Torres's genocidal streak didn't end until February 2010, when he kidnapped and raped a graduate student in Arlington, Virginia.
He chased the victim into a secluded area and strangled her with a scarf until she lost consciousness. Avila-Torres was arrested after she was found face down in the snow and rescued by a passerby.
Prosecutors said that while in prison, Avila Torrez confessed to killing Snell, who lived in the same barracks, and told another inmate that he had assaulted Snell while he was sleeping and then stole computer code. He reportedly said that he strangled her.
The man then dragged her body across the room to a locker, where it was discovered two days later.
Snell's brother said he was concerned that the serial predator was harming others in prison.
Nine of the death row inmates pardoned by Biden were sentenced to death for killing fellow inmates during other rap activities in prison.
One of the murderers pardoned by Biden was serving a life sentence for the murder of his own wife when he killed a prison guard with a hammer.
Biden also granted clemency to Thomas Sanders, the defendant who kidnapped 12-year-old Lexis Roberts in Louisiana in 2010, shot her four times and cut her throat. The attack comes just days after Sanders killed his mother during a road trip near the Grand Canyon.
Biden left three of the most famous murderers on death row. He refused to soften his stance against Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers, and racist Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof.
Snell said he could only speculate that Biden must have decided to pardon him because he was “trying to appeal to some people who might see him better because of the pardon.”
In a brief written statement explaining the commutation, Biden did not say why he believed the death sentence was unjust.
“Make no mistake about it, I condemn these murderers, I mourn the victims of their despicable acts, and my heart goes out to all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said. ” he 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 have always believed that the use of the death penalty must end at the federal level. I am convinced that in good conscience I cannot stand back and allow the new administration to resume the executions that I have halted.”
The White House did not respond to The Post's request for comment on Monday.
