President Joe Biden commuted the federal executions of seven Texas inmates on Monday, including a North Texas narcotics dealer.
Julius Omar Robinson is among the convicts who will now face life in prison rather than execution.
Robinson, an Arlington drug dealer, was convicted of murdering three men in 2002. He was condemned to death by lethal injection for two murders and life in prison for the third.
In one of the murders, Robinson killed Johnny Lee Shelton by mistaking him for his intended target, a man known as “Big Friday.”
Court filings from a 2008 appeal state Robinson felt Big Friday was responsible for a carjacking a few months prior.
Two of Robinson’s associates were in a Dallas nightclub when they saw Shelton, confused him for Big Friday, and contacted Robinson.
Prosecutors claim Robinson waited for Shelton to exit the club before following his car onto the highway and shooting him from the window with an assault rifle.
Robinson was also found guilty of shooting a man at close range after being offered a $17,000 slab of wood instead of narcotics.
Robinson was a former athlete at Lamar High School in Arlington, and the defense called previous coaches to testify that he was “reasonably quiet” and “very respectful,” according to court documents.
According to court documents, Robinson’s appeals were refused many times.
Seven total Texas inmates had sentences commuted
Six other Texas inmates had their sentences modified to life in prison rather than execution.
The prisoners were all found guilty of killing other inmates at a federal penitentiary facility in Beaumont, Texas.
- Shannon Wayne Agofsky was serving a life sentence when he beat another inmate to death.
- Christopher Cramer and Ricky Allen Fackrell stabbed another inmate to death and were sentenced to death in 2018.
- Jospeh Ebron stabbed another inmate to death.
- Mark Isaac Snarr and Edgar Garcia stabbed an inmate to death and stabbed two correctional officers.
When Biden took office, he declared a moratorium on executions and stated that the federal death penalty should only be used in circumstances of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.