Two death row inmates in Indiana have rejected clemency from President Biden, choosing to fight their sentences in court instead
Indiana: So, here’s the scoop. Two guys on death row, Shannon Agofsky and Len Davis, just turned down clemency from President Biden. They’d rather take their chances in court.
They filed some emergency motions to block their sentences from being changed to life without parole. It’s a pretty bold move, right?
Both of them are refusing to sign the papers that would let their pardons go through. Agofsky’s lawyer said he never even asked for a commutation. He thinks it would mess up his chances to appeal.
Davis, on the other hand, believes keeping the death penalty threat over him will highlight some serious issues with the justice system.
This all comes after Biden issued a record 37 pardons last month, which is a big deal in the world of death sentences.
Now, Agofsky, who’s 53, was already serving life for killing a bank president. He ended up on death row after killing another inmate back in 2004.
Davis, 60, used to be a cop in New Orleans. He got convicted for hiring a hitman to take out a woman who complained about him back in 1994.
Both of them are locked up at the US Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Agofsky’s lawyers are trying to prove he’s innocent of the original crime that landed him in prison.
They made it clear in their filing that he never asked for clemency and didn’t want it. They argued that changing his sentence would really hurt his chances to appeal.
Davis called the whole clemency situation a “fast-moving constitutional conundrum.” Sounds complicated, right?
Experts say these guys have a tough road ahead if they want to refuse the commutation of their sentences.
Robin Maher from the Death Penalty Information Centre mentioned that most inmates are usually grateful for clemency, which is totally allowed by the Constitution.
Even with Biden’s big clemency push, he didn’t grant it to some high-profile inmates still on death row, like the Boston Marathon bomber and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter.
As of now, neither the Justice Department nor the White House has commented on this situation.
