Two of the 37 inmates on federal loss of life row whose sentences had been commuted to life with out parole final month by President Biden are rejecting clemency.
Shannon Agofsky, 53, and Len Davis, 60, who’re each within the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, are refusing to signal the paperwork to just accept the president’s clemency motion as a result of authorized avenues they’re afforded on loss of life row, in accordance with court docket paperwork.
The pair filed emergency motions in federal court docket on Dec. 30 requesting an injunction to dam the change to their loss of life sentences, saying that accepting their commutations would take away the heightened scrutiny that loss of life penalty appeals obtain.
Heightened scrutiny is a authorized course of during which the courts study circumstances like loss of life penalty appeals nearer for errors as a result of these circumstances are a matter of life or loss of life.
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Two of the 37 federal inmates on loss of life row whose sentences had been commuted to life with out parole by President Biden are rejecting clemency. (AP Photograph/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
“To commute his sentence now, whereas the defendant has energetic litigation in court docket, is to strip him of the safety of heightened scrutiny,” Agofsky’s submitting reads. “This constitutes an undue burden, and leaves the defendant able of basic unfairness, which might decimate his pending appellate procedures.”
Davis, a former New Orleans police officer, “has at all times maintained that having a loss of life sentence would draw consideration to the overwhelming misconduct” in opposition to the Justice Division, he wrote in his submitting.
However, as Davis famous, case regulation on this situation is “fairly murky” and there’s no assure the 2 inmates can have their loss of life sentences restored.
Notably, the Supreme Court docket dominated in 1927 {that a} president might grant reprieves and pardons with out the convict’s consent. Each inmates wrote of their filings that they by no means requested commutation.
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A jury convicted Agofsky within the 1989 homicide of Dan Quick, an Oklahoma financial institution president. His physique was present in a lake after prosecutors mentioned Agofsky and his brother, Joseph Agofsky, kidnapped and killed Quick earlier than stealing $71,000 from the financial institution.
Joseph Agofsky was discovered not responsible of homicide, however was sentenced to life in jail for the theft. He died behind bars in 2013.Â
Shannon Agofsky was sentenced to life in jail after he was convicted on homicide and theft prices. He was later convicted within the 2001 stomping loss of life of fellow inmate, Luther Plant, whereas he was incarcerated in a Texas jail. A jury beneficial a loss of life sentence in that case in 2004.
A Texas jury beneficial Shannon Agofsky be sentenced to loss of life after he was convicted of killing a fellow inmate whereas incarcerated. (AP)
Agofsky mentioned in his submitting final week that he’s disputing how he was charged with homicide in Plant’s loss of life and that he’s additionally in search of to “set up his innocence within the authentic case for which he was incarcerated.”
His spouse, Laura, who married him in 2019 over the telephone, instructed NBC Information that his attorneys had inspired him to hunt a presidential commutation, however he refused as a result of he was afforded authorized counsel essential in his appeals as a loss of life row inmate. She mentioned her husband nonetheless has attorneys serving to him in his case.
She instructed the outlet that her husband solely having his sentence commuted is “not a win for him” as a result of she believes there may be proof that may show his innocence.
“He does not wish to die in jail being labeled a cold-blooded killer,” she mentioned.
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Davis was discovered responsible in reference to the 1994 homicide of Kim Groves, who had filed a criticism in opposition to him as a police officer on allegations he beat a young person in her neighborhood. Prosecutors charged Davis with violating Groves’ civil rights after accusing him of hiring a drug supplier to kill her.
A federal appeals court docket tossed out Davis’ authentic loss of life sentence, however it was reinstated in 2005.
Davis “has at all times maintained his innocence and argued that federal court docket had no jurisdiction to strive him for civil rights offenses,” his submitting reads.
Solely three of the 40 males on federal loss of life row are nonetheless going through execution following President Biden’s commutations final month. (AP Photograph/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Each Davis and Agofsky are urging a decide to nominate a co-counsel of their requests for an injunction of the commutations.
The Justice Division issued a moratorium on executions throughout the Biden administration, however President-elect Trump has vowed to develop federal executions when he returns to the White Home later this month.
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“I’m extra satisfied than ever that we should cease the usage of the loss of life penalty on the federal stage,” Biden mentioned in an announcement final month. “In good conscience, I can not stand again and let a brand new administration resume executions that I halted.”
The three federal loss of life row inmates who weren’t granted clemency had been Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted within the 2013 Boston marathon bombing; Dylann Roof, who was discovered responsible within the 2017 mass capturing at a Charleston, South Carolina, church; and Robert Bowers, who was sentenced for the 2018 mass capturing at a Pittsburgh Synagogue.
