Three men still remain on federal death row after President Joe Biden issued sweeping commutations Monday to the sentences of 37 other prisoners who were awaiting execution.
Biden’s decision is intended to maintain his moratorium on federal executions even after he leaves office next month. Though Biden was unable to fulfill his campaign pledge of ending the death penalty, the commutations are a way for the outgoing president to prevent President-elect Donald Trump from going forward with the executions after he’s sworn in.
Unlike a blanket pardon, a commutation does not erase an inmate’s conviction, but instead imposes a less harsh punishment. In this case, the death row inmates who received commutations from Biden will now serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
See full list of names:President Biden commutes sentences of 37 federal death row inmates
Of the 40 prisoners on federal death row, only three were not given commutations on their sentences. Here’s what to know about those men:
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured more than 260 people.
Last year marked the 10th anniversary since the 2013 attack, when two bombs made from pressure cookers exploded at the finish line of the lauded race. The bombings triggering a massive manhunt that led to the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the death of his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in a shootout with police.
The Tsarnaev brothers also shot and killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Officer Sean Collier.
Tsarnaev received a death sentence in 2015, which the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated in 2022 after a lower court tossed his conviction.
Robert Bowers
Robert Bowers was convicted in a 2018 anti-Semitic attack that left 11 worshippers dead at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
The mass shooting is considered the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. Seven others were wounded.
Witnesses said Bowers shouted anti-Semitic epithets and called for the death of Jews. Evidence at trial showed that Bowers fired about 100 rounds from multiple firearms, including an AR-15.
Bowers was sentenced to death in August 2023 after being convicted on 63 federal charges, including 11 counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.
The synagogue was demolished earlier this year.
Dylann Roof
Dylann Roof was convicted of killing nine people in 2015 in a mass shooting at Mother Emanuel, a historic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
In 2017, Roof became the first person in the U.S. sentenced to death for a federal hate crime. Authorities have said Roof opened fire during the closing prayer of a Bible study at the church, raining down dozens of bullets on those assembled.
He was 21 at the time.
An avowed white supremacist, Roof had posted pictures online of himself holding a Confederate flag prior to the rampage.
Roof had appealed his convictions and death sentence in January 2020, arguing he had schizophrenia and suffered from other psychological disorders. The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the sentence.
Contributing: Francesca Chambers, Krystal Nurse, John Fritze, USA TODAY; Daniel J. Gross, Greenville News
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]
