Death row inmates reject clemency from execution granted by Biden
Share:
In a shocking move, two death row inmates have rejected President Joe Biden’s commutation of their sentences. Shannon Agofsky and Len Davis were among 37 federal prisoners who were granted clemency from execution by Biden last month. Their death sentences were commuted to life in prison without parole.
![[US President Joe Biden speaks alongside Medal of Valor recipients in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 3, 2025. (Photo by Chris Kleponis / AFP) (Photo by CHRIS KLEPONIS/AFP via Getty Images)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_234854336-3cd2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
But the outgoing president’s gesture was not appreciated by Agofsky and Davis, who are both behind bars in Terre Haute, Indiana. They filed emergency motions in court on December 30 to block their commutations, arguing it would put their appeal cases at a disadvantage.
![[Shannon Agofsky, White TX 2004 Convicted and sentenced to death for the killing of a prisoner in a federal prison.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/PRI_180460728-3d5e.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=446)
Agofsky’s filing stated, according to NBC News: ‘To commute his sentence now, while the defendant has active litigation in court, is to strip him of the protection of heightened scrutiny. ‘This constitutes an undue burden, and leaves the defendant in a position of fundamental unfairness, which would decimate his pending appellate procedures.’.
![[An undated photo shows Len Davis. (The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_233518554-2ea8.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Meanwhile, Davis wrote in his filing that ‘having a death sentence would draw attention to the overwhelming misconduct’. He added that ‘the case law on this issue is quite murky’ and thanked the court ‘for its prompt attention to this fast-moving constitutional conundrum’.
Agofsky and Davis have declined to sign paperwork for their commutations. However, a 1927 Supreme Court ruling established that an inmate’s consent is ‘not required’ for the death sentence to be commuted, meaning that the two inmates may an uphill battle to block Biden’s order.
