Two Death Row Inmates Say No to Life Sentence Commutations: Insights into Their Choices and Motivations
Two federal death row inmates, Shannon Agofsky and Len Davis, have declined President Joe Biden’s commutation of their death sentences to life imprisonment without parole. Both inmates, housed at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, argue that accepting the commutations could adversely affect their ongoing legal appeals.
Agofsky, convicted of a 1989 murder and a 2001 prison killing, contends that the commutation would diminish the heightened scrutiny his death penalty appeals receive, potentially undermining his legal efforts. Similarly, Davis, a former New Orleans police officer convicted for orchestrating a 1994 murder, maintains his innocence and believes that retaining his death row status ensures greater attention to alleged misconduct in his case.
Both inmates have filed emergency motions to block the commutations, refusing to sign the necessary paperwork to formalize the sentence reductions. Their refusal challenges the clemency, despite a 1927 Supreme Court ruling that does not require a convict’s consent for presidential reprieves or pardons.
President Biden’s recent clemency actions commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life without parole, excluding individuals convicted of terrorism or hate-motivated mass murders, such as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Dylann Roof, and Robert Bowers.