Two of the 37 federal inmates whose death sentences were commuted last month by President Joe Biden are taking the unusual step of avoiding execution. They are refusing to sign documents accepting President Biden’s clemency package.
On December 30, inmates at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, Shannon Agofsky and Len Davis filed an emergency petition in federal court in the Southern District of the state seeking an injunction to commute their death sentences to life in prison without parole. I filed a complaint.
The men believe they will be at a legal disadvantage if their sentences are commuted, as they maintain their innocence and plan to appeal.
Courts scrutinize death penalty appeals very closely in a legal process known as enhanced scrutiny, which requires courts to examine life-or-death death penalty cases for errors. While this process doesn’t necessarily increase the chances of success, Agofsky suggested he doesn’t want to lose any additional oversight.
“Reducing the defendant’s sentence now while he has his case in court deprives him of the protection of intense supervision. This is an undue burden and places the defendant in a fundamentally unfair position. It would jeopardize the pending appeal,” according to Agofsky’s filing.
“I have always maintained that a death sentence would draw attention to the overwhelming misconduct that I allege against the Department of Justice,” Davis said in his filing.
He also wrote, “I appreciate the Court’s swift response to this rapidly evolving constitutional challenge. Case law on this issue is very vague.”
But Dan Coville, a constitutional law professor at Capital University School of Law in Columbus, Ohio, who has represented defendants in death penalty and pardon cases, says inmates face the difficult task of reinstating death sentences. He said that
For example, a 1927 U.S. Supreme Court decision asserted that the president has the power to grant reprieves and pardons, and that “the consent of the convict is not required.”
Coville said there have been examples of prisoners who wanted the death penalty and refused commutations, but added, “Just as we impose sentences in the public welfare, so do state presidents and governors impose sentences in the public welfare.” We are reducing the sentence for this reason.” Robin Maher, executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, said the vast majority of people on federal death row appreciate Biden’s decision, adding, “It’s constitutional and absolute.” .
The Justice Department’s Office of Pardon Counsel did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Agofsky was convicted in the 1989 murder of bank president Dan Short, whose body was found in an Oklahoma lake. Federal prosecutors said Mr. Agofsky and his brother, Joseph Agofsky, kidnapped and killed Mr. Short and then stole $71,000 from the bank.
Although the jury refused to convict Joseph Agofsky of murder, he was sentenced to life in prison for robbery, and Shannon Agofsky received life imprisonment for murder and robbery. Joseph Agofsky died in prison in 2013.
While in a Texas prison, Shannon Agofsky was convicted of the stomping death of fellow inmate Luther Plant in 2001, and a jury recommended the death penalty in 2004.
Agofsky, 53, disputes how he was charged with murder in the trampling death in a motion seeking an injunction to reduce Mr. “I am trying to prove my innocence.” ”
“Defendant never requested a reduction in sentence. Defendant never applied for a reduction in sentence,” the filing states. “The defendant did not want his sentence reduced and refused to sign the documents presented with the reduced sentence.”
Agofsky’s wife, Laura, who married him in a telephone ceremony in 2019, said Monday that his lawyer had recommended that he request a presidential commutation in Agofsky’s case, but that his status as a death row inmate gave her the opportunity to have legal counsel. He said he refused because he was asked to do so. critical in his appeal.
But Laura Agofsky said her husband still has a lawyer who can help. She said she believes there is evidence to prove his innocence, so a reduced sentence “is not a victory for him.” “He doesn’t want to be labeled a cold-blooded murderer and die in prison,” Laura Agofsky said in a telephone interview.
Davis, a former New Orleans police officer, was convicted in the 1994 murder of Kim Groves. Kim Groves had filed a complaint alleging she punched a teenager in her Lower 9th Ward neighborhood. Prosecutors said Davis hired a drug dealer to kill Groves and charged the officer with violating Groves’ civil rights. Davis’ original death sentence was overturned by a federal appeals court, but he was sentenced to death again in 2005.
The case was part of a larger federal investigation into corruption within the New Orleans Police Department.
Davis, 60, “has always maintained his innocence and that federal courts lacked the authority to try him for civil rights violations,” the filing said.
Both Mr. Davis and Mr. Agofsky are asking the judge to appoint co-counsel in their request for an injunction.
Maher, of the Death Penalty Information Center, said all people accused of federal crimes have a constitutional right to an attorney at trial, whether they’re on death row or not, if they’re convicted. He said he also has a statutory right to appeal.
“The death penalty is the most extreme sanction given in a criminal case and deserves the highest level of legal representation and judicial scrutiny,” Maher said.
Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal death row inmates, all men, comes after weeks of speculation. He was praised by a coalition of human rights and anti-death penalty groups who have expressed opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to expand federal executions during his second term.
The Justice Department under the Biden administration has imposed a moratorium on executions.
“I am more convinced than ever that the death penalty must end at the federal level,” Biden said in a statement announcing the commutation. “In good conscience, I cannot silently allow the new administration to resume the executions I had halted.”
But Biden refused to grant commutations to three federal death row inmates who were involved in mass murders and terrorist attacks.
Still, the president has faced criticism for commuting the sentences of 37 other people.
The Independent Police Oversight Office of New Orleans, a civilian police watchdog established in 2009, said Davis’ commutation was “a painful reminder that justice is not always served as it should.”
“In this action, President Biden has shown more to Mr. Davis than this corrupt officer ever showed to Kim Groves, her children and family, and the people of New Orleans,” the department said in a statement. He showed mercy.”
German national Laura Agofsky, who first connected with her husband as a pen pal and has yet to meet him in person, remains focused on the appeal, although she knows it will be an uphill battle to overturn her reduced sentence. He said he was doing it.
“Given Biden’s past statements on the death penalty, we have been discussing the possibility of a commutation since his election,” said Laura Agofsky, her husband’s advocate and co-worker with the German Coalition to Abolish Death. said. Penalties. (Germany does not have the death penalty.)
Biden’s announcement was “a very dark day for all of us,” but added: “Now that we know he’s going to hire a lawyer, we know they’re going to fight for him.” Ta.
