Two inmates convicted of murder, whose death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment by U.S. President Joe Biden, have appealed to a federal court to retain their original sentences, NBC News reports.
In December 2024, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates, replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. However, two of these inmates, Shannon Agofsky and Len Davis, who are incarcerated in Indiana, refused to sign the documents formalizing the commutation. According to NBC, their decision stems from concerns that accepting the reduced sentences could hinder their efforts to appeal their convictions. Both inmates maintain their innocence regarding the crimes for which they were sentenced.
The December clemency list did not include Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was sentenced to death in 2015 for orchestrating the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, Dylan Roof, convicted of killing nine African Americans in a Charleston church in 2015, or Robert Bowers, who was sentenced to death in 2023 for the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that claimed 11 lives.
