TERRE HAUTE, IN - In his final weeks of office, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of near 1,500 federal inmates and pardoned 39 of them, including those on death row. However, two of the 37 inmates on federal death row whose sentences were commuted to life without parole by Biden are refusing to complete the clemency paperwork.
According to Fox News, court documents show that 53-year-old Shannon Agofsky and 60-year-old Len Davis are refusing to sign the paperwork to accept the president's clemency action due to the legal avenues they are afforded on death row. Both inmates are currently serving their sentences in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
On December 30th, both of them filed emergency motions in federal court requesting an injunction to block the change to their death sentences, saying that accepting their commutations would remove the heightened scrutiny that death penalty appeals received. Heightened scrutiny is a legal process in which the courts examine cases like death penalty appeals closer for errors because these cases are a matter of life or death.
Agofsky's filing reads, in part, "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."
Davis, a former New Orleans police officer, "has always maintained that having a death sentence would draw attention to the overwhelming misconduct" against the Justice Department, as noted in his court filing. Davis also noted in his filing that case law on this issue is "quite murky" and there is no guarantee the two inmates can have their death sentences restored.
In 1927, the Supreme Court ruled that a president may grant reprieves and pardons without the inmate's consent. Both inmates wrote in their filings that they never request commutation.
A jury convicted Agofsky in the 1989 murder of Dan Short, an Oklahoma bank president. His 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 was found not guilty of murder, but was sentenced to life in prison for the robbery. He died while incarcerated in 2013.
Shannon was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted on murder and robbery charges. He was later convicted in the 2001 stomping death of fellow inmate, Luther Plant, while he was incarcerated in a Texas prison. A jury recommended a death sentence for that case in 2004. In his recent court filing, Agofsky said that he is disputing how he was charged with murder in Plant's death and that he is also seeking to "establish his innocence in the original case for which he was incarcerated."
Davis was found guilty in connection with the 1994 murder of Kim Groves, who had filed a complaint against him as a police officer on 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 tossed out Davis' original death sentence, but it was reinstated in 2005.
His recent court filing reads, "Davis has always maintained his innocence and argued that federal court had no jurisdiction to try him for civil rights offenses." Both Davis and Agofsky are urging a judge to appoint a co-counsel in their requests for an injunction of the commutations.
In a statement in December 2024, Biden said, "I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted." The Justice Department issued a moratorium on executions during the Biden administration, but President-elect Trump has vowed to expand federal executions when he returns to the White House on January 20th.
According to Fox News, court documents show that 53-year-old Shannon Agofsky and 60-year-old Len Davis are refusing to sign the paperwork to accept the president's clemency action due to the legal avenues they are afforded on death row. Both inmates are currently serving their sentences in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
On December 30th, both of them filed emergency motions in federal court requesting an injunction to block the change to their death sentences, saying that accepting their commutations would remove the heightened scrutiny that death penalty appeals received. Heightened scrutiny is a legal process in which the courts examine cases like death penalty appeals closer for errors because these cases are a matter of life or death.
Agofsky's filing reads, in part, "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."
Davis, a former New Orleans police officer, "has always maintained that having a death sentence would draw attention to the overwhelming misconduct" against the Justice Department, as noted in his court filing. Davis also noted in his filing that case law on this issue is "quite murky" and there is no guarantee the two inmates can have their death sentences restored.
In 1927, the Supreme Court ruled that a president may grant reprieves and pardons without the inmate's consent. Both inmates wrote in their filings that they never request commutation.
A jury convicted Agofsky in the 1989 murder of Dan Short, an Oklahoma bank president. His 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 was found not guilty of murder, but was sentenced to life in prison for the robbery. He died while incarcerated in 2013.
Shannon was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted on murder and robbery charges. He was later convicted in the 2001 stomping death of fellow inmate, Luther Plant, while he was incarcerated in a Texas prison. A jury recommended a death sentence for that case in 2004. In his recent court filing, Agofsky said that he is disputing how he was charged with murder in Plant's death and that he is also seeking to "establish his innocence in the original case for which he was incarcerated."
Davis was found guilty in connection with the 1994 murder of Kim Groves, who had filed a complaint against him as a police officer on 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 tossed out Davis' original death sentence, but it was reinstated in 2005.
His recent court filing reads, "Davis has always maintained his innocence and argued that federal court had no jurisdiction to try him for civil rights offenses." Both Davis and Agofsky are urging a judge to appoint a co-counsel in their requests for an injunction of the commutations.
In a statement in December 2024, Biden said, "I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted." The Justice Department issued a moratorium on executions during the Biden administration, but President-elect Trump has vowed to expand federal executions when he returns to the White House on January 20th.
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Comments
2025-01-08T21:21-0500 | Comment by: James
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