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 sentenced were commuted to life in prison without parole.
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.
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.’
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’.
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