Two death row inmates refuse Biden’s fight for their innocence

Two of the 37 federal death row inmates whose sentences were commuted to life without parole last month by President Biden are rejecting clemency.

Shannon Agofsky, 53, and Len Davis, 60, both incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, refuse to sign documents to accept the president’s request for clemency because of the legal avenues available to them on death row, according to court documents.

Both men filed emergency motions in federal court on Dec. 30, seeking an injunction to block modification of their death sentences, saying accepting their commutation would eliminate the scrutiny the cases face. death penalty appeals.

Enhanced scrutiny is a legal process in which courts look more closely at cases such as death penalty appeals to detect errors because these cases are a matter of life and death.

BIDEN COMMUTS SENTENCES OF 37 FEDERAL INMATES SENTENCED TO DEATH DURING FINAL MONTH OF HIS PRESIDENCY

“To commute his sentence now, while the defendant is actively pleading in court, is to deprive him of the protection of increased scrutiny,” Agofsky’s filing states. “This constitutes an undue burden and leaves the respondent in a position of fundamental injustice, which would decimate his ongoing appeal proceedings.”

Davis, a former New Orleans police officer, “always maintained that a death sentence would call attention to massive misconduct” against the Justice Department, he wrote in his filing .

But, as Davis pointed out, the case law on this issue is “quite murky” and there is no guarantee that the two inmates will be able to have their death sentences reinstated.

Notably, the Supreme Court ruled in 1927 that a president can grant reprieves and pardons without the consent of the convicted person. Both inmates wrote in their files that they never requested the commutation.

BIDEN’S REASON BEHIND CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR DEATH RATE KILLERS SCARRED AT BEST: EXPERT

A jury convicted Agofsky of the 1989 murder of Dan Short, an Oklahoma bank president. Her body was found in a lake after prosecutors said Agofsky and his brother, Joseph Agofsky, kidnapped and killed Short before stealing $71,000 from the bank.

Joseph Agofsky was found not guilty of murder, but sentenced to life in prison for theft. He died behind bars in 2013.

Shannon Agofsky was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder and robbery. He was later convicted of the trampling death of a fellow inmate, Luther Plant, in 2001 while he was incarcerated in a Texas prison. A jury recommended a death sentence in that case in 2004.

Agofsky said in his filing last week that he disputes how he was charged with murder in Plant’s death and also seeks to “establish his innocence in the original case for which he was incarcerated.

His wife, Laura, who married him over the phone in 2019, told NBC News that his lawyers encouraged him to seek a presidential commutation, but he declined because he had counsel crucial to his appeals as a death row prisoner. She said her husband always had lawyers to help him with his case.

She told the outlet that simply commuting her husband’s sentence was “not a victory for him” because she believes there is evidence that could prove his innocence.

“He doesn’t want to die in prison being called a cold-blooded killer,” she said.

Hopeful POTENTIAL 2028 DEM follows Biden’s lead, commutes 15 death sentences on last day as governor

Davis was convicted of the 1994 murder of Kim Groves, who had filed charges against him as a police officer over allegations that he beat a teenager in her neighborhood. Prosecutors charged Davis with violating Groves’ civil rights after accusing him of hiring a drug dealer to kill her.

A federal appeals court overturned Davis’ original death sentence, but it was reinstated in 2005.

Davis “has always maintained his innocence and argued that the federal court lacks jurisdiction to try him for civil rights violations,” his filing states.

Both Davis and Agofsky are urging a judge to appoint co-counsel in their requests for an injunction on the commutations.

The Justice Department issued a moratorium on executions during the Biden administration, but President-elect Trump has pledged to expand federal executions when he returns to the White House later this month.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“I am more convinced than ever that we must end the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Biden said in a statement last month. “I cannot in good conscience stand back and let a new administration resume the executions I stopped.”

The three federal death row inmates who were not granted clemency are Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was convicted of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; Dylann Roof, who was convicted in the 2017 mass shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina; and Robert Bowers, who was convicted for the 2018 mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.