More than three dozen federal death row convicts had their sentences reduced earlier this week, including seven from the Carolinas.
A gang boss, a kidnapper, and a bank robber have all been convicted of murder in North or South Carolina and are currently serving life sentences.
The family of bank teller Donna Major quickly condemned the commutations, which President Joe Biden ordered on December 23. Brandon Council shot and killed Major and a coworker during a robbery in Conway, South Carolina, in 2017.
Major’s daughter, Katie Jenkins, spoke to Fox News.
“We trusted the judicial system, we sat through court, I watched my mom be murdered, I watched images of her body laying on the ground,” Jenkins said me.
The commutations also included Alejandro Umana, a Charlotte resident and member of the MS-13 gang. He was condemned to death in 2010 after being found guilty of killing shooting two brothers in a Greensboro restaurant after they dubbed Umana’s gang signs “fake.” During his trial, Umana tried to bring a knife into the courtroom.
Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks are among others who have received fresh sentences. After escaping from a Kentucky prison, the two kidnapped Alice Donovan from a South Carolina Walmart. Her family waited years before her remains were recovered.
Donovan’s daughter, Angie Gilchrist, spoke with Jody Barr of Queen City News in 2008.
“I want to hear the words, ‘It’s Alice Donovan, it’s your mom.'” she replied to Barr. “Just so that I can finally release everything I have been holding inside for six years so that I can actually cry and mourn the loss of my mother.”
Richard Jackson will also receive a life sentence. He was on death row for raping and killing Karen Styles when she was out on a run in Pisgah National Forest.
In a statement, President Biden condemned the inmate’s crimes but said that his conscience guided him to his decision, “ … 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.”
When Biden first took office, he declared a moratorium on most federal executions.
Only three federal detainees remain on execution row, facing terrorism or mass murder charges. That includes the Tree of Life synagogue shooter, one of the Boston bombers, and Dylann Roof, the gunman who massacred nine people in a Charleston, South Carolina, church in 2015.