Who are the prisoners whose sentences Biden has commuted and what crimes have they committed?

One of Joe Biden’s last major acts as President of the United States has been to commute the sentences of almost all individuals on federal death row.

The White House revealed on Monday the decision had been made to reclassify the sentences of 37 of 40 people from execution to life without the possibility of parole.

Why has President Biden commuted death row sentences?

“President Biden has dedicated his career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” reads the White House’s statement. “He believes that America must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level, except in cases of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder – which is why today’s actions apply to all but those cases.”

Biden himself claimed the commutations were “consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions”.

President Biden’s 37 death row commutations: full list

Shannon Wayne Agofsky (Texas): killing of a prisoner (sentenced 2004).

Billie Jerome Allen (Missouri): involvement in an armed bank robbery during which a bank guard was killed (senetcned 1998). He is a co-defendant of Norris Holder.

Aquilia Marcivicci Barnette (North Carolina): killing of his ex-girlfriend and another man in a carjacking (sentenced 1998).

Brandon Leon Basham (South Carolina): kidnapping and killing a woman following an escape from prison (sentenced 2004). He is a co-defendant of Chadrick Fulks.

Anthony George Battle (Georgia): killing of a prison guard (sentenced 1997).

Meier Jason Brown (Georgia): fatal stabbing of a postal worker (sentenced 2003).

Carlos David Caro (Virginia): killing of a prisoner in a federal facility (sentenced 2007).

Wesley Paul Coonce, Jr. (Missouri): killing of a fellow prisoner in the mental health unit of a federal prison (sentenced 2014). He is a co-defendant of Charles Hall.

Brandon Michael Council (South Carolina): killing two bank employees during the course of a bank robbery (sentenced 2019)

Christopher Emery Cramer (Texas): killing of a fellow prisoner in a federal facility (sentenced 2018). He is a co-defendant of Ricky Fackrell.

Len Davis (Louisiana): Police officer who ordered the killing of a witness for an internal investigation into a police misconduct complaint against him (sentenced 2005).

Joseph Ebron (Texas): killing of a prisoner in a federal facility (sentenced 2009).

Ricky Allen Fackrell (Texas): killing of a prisoner in a federal facility (sentenced 2009). He is a co-defendant of Christopher Cramer.

Edward Leon Fields, Jr. (Oklahoma): Sentenced in 2005 for the fatal shootings of two campers on federal land.

Chadrick Evan Fulks (South Carolina): Sentenced in 2004 for the kidnapping and death of a woman after an escape from prison. He is a co-defendant of Brandon Basham.

Marvin Charles Gabrion, II (Michigan): Sentenced in 2002 for killing a woman on federal land.

Edgar Baltazar Garcia (Texas): fatal stabbing of a prisoner in a federal facility (sentenced 2010). He is a co-defendant of Mark Snarr.

Thomas Morocco Hager (Virginia): drug-related killing (sentenced 2007).

Charles Michael Hall (Missouri): killing of a prisoner in the mental health unit of a federal prison (sentenced 2014). He is a co-defendant of Wesley Coonce.

Norris G. Holder (Missouri): fatal shooting of a security guard during a bank robbery (sentenced 1998). He is a co-defendant of Billie Allen.

Richard Allen Jackson (North Carolina): fatal shooting of a woman while on federal property (sentenced 2001).

Jurijus Kadamovas (California): involvement in the killings and kidnappings-for-ransom of five immigrants from Russia and Georgia (sentenced 2007). He is a co-defendant of Iouri Mikhel.

Daryl Lawrence (Ohio): fatal shooting of a special-duty police officer in an attempted bank robbery (sentenced 2006).

Iouri Mikhel (California): involvement in the killings and kidnappings-for-ransom of five Russian and Georgian immigrants (sentenced 2007). He is a co-defendant of Jurijus Kadamovas.

Ronaldo Mikos (Illinois): killing of a federal grand jury witness in a Medicare fraud investigation (sentenced 2005).

James H. Roane, Jr. (Virginia): participation in a series of drug-related killings (sentenced 1993). He is a co-defendant of Corey Johnson and Richard Tipton.

Julius Omar Robinson (Texas): killing of two men in drug-related incidents (sentenced 2002).

David Anthony Runyon (Virginia): involvement in the death of a Naval officer in a murder-for-hire plot (sentenced 2009).

Ricardo Sanchez, Jr. (Florida): involvement in the drug-related killing of a family, including two children (sentenced 2009). He is a co-defendant of Daniel Troya.

Thomas Steven Sanders (Louisiana): kidnapping resulting in death of a 12-year-old girl (sentenced 2014).

Kaboni Savage (Pennsylvania): involvement in the killings of 12 people in connection with a drug enterprise (sentenced 2013).

Mark Isaac Snarr (Texas): fatal stabbing of a fellow prisoner while incarcerated in a federal prison (sentenced 2010). He is a co-defendant of Edgar Garcia.

Rejon Taylor (Tennessee): carjacking, kidnapping and killing of a restaurant owner (sentenced 20010).

Richard Tipton (Virginia): participation in a series of drug-related killings (sentenced 1993). He is a co-defendant of Corey Johnson and James H. Roane, Jr.

Jorge Avila Torrez (Virginia): Ex-Marine who killed fellow service member (sentenced 2014).

Daniel Troya (Florida): involvement in the drug-related killing of a family, including two children (sentenced 2009). He is a co-defendant of Ricardo Sanchez, Jr.

Alejandro Enrique Ramirez Umaña (North Carolina): fatal shooting of two brothers in a North Carolina restaurant (sentenced 2010).

Three prisoners remain on federal death row

As a result, there are now only three people on death row in the United States:

Robert Bowers (Pennsylvania): convicted and sen­tenced to death in 2023 for the mass shoot­ing at Tree of Life Synagogue.

Dylann Roof (South Carolina): convicted and sen­tenced to death in 2017 for the fatal shoot­ing of nine parish­ioners in a church in South Carolina.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (Massachussetts): Convicted for offens­es com­mit­ted in the Boston Marathon bomb­ing and sen­tenced to death in 2015 for two of the victims killed.

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