Last month, President Joe Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 federal inmates; however, two of these individuals are unwilling to sign the necessary documents to avoid execution.
The clemency measure enacted by Biden transforms the inmates’ death penalties into life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The two individuals, Shannon Agofsky and Len Davis, are reportedly taking emergency legal action in federal court, hoping to prevent the alteration of their sentences, as reported by NBC News.
Both are incarcerated at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, and filed their motions in the southern district of the state on December 30. They believe that the commutations could interfere with their efforts to appeal their convictions based on claims of being innocent.
Davis, a former police officer in New Orleans, was found guilty in 1994 for the murder of Kim Groves, a local who had lodged a complaint against him for allegedly assaulting a teenager. According to prosecutors at the time, Davis conspired with a drug dealer to murder Groves and was charged with infringing upon her civil rights.
Although a federal appeals court initially overturned his death sentence, it was reinstated in 2005. In his filing, Davis asserts that he “has consistently asserted his innocence and contends that federal court lacked the jurisdiction to prosecute him for civil rights violations.”
His filing further claims that he “has always held that a death sentence would spotlight the significant misconduct” he alleges against the Department of Justice.
On the other hand, Agofsky was convicted in 1989 for the murder of Dan Short, the president of a bank in Oklahoma. Prosecutors indicated that Agofsky and his brother, Joseph, kidnapped and murdered Short before stealing $71,000 from the bank, according to NBC News. Although his brother, who passed away in prison in 2013, received a life sentence for the robbery, he was not convicted of murder.
In contrast, Shannon Agofsky was convicted of both murder and theft, resulting in a life sentence. In 2001, he was also convicted for the fatal stomping of another inmate at a Texas prison, and a jury recommended the death penalty in 2004.
Agofsky disputes the charges related to the stomping event in his filing, indicating that he is striving to “prove his innocence in the initial case that led to his incarceration.” Additionally, he mentioned that he is concerned about losing access to a legal review process termed “heightened scrutiny” by accepting Biden’s clemency.
Death penalty appeals involve a heightened scrutiny procedure, where courts rigorously review the case for any mistakes due to the serious life-or-death stakes involved.
While this process does not guarantee success, Agofsky’s filing states: “Commuting his sentence at this moment, while the defendant is engaged in ongoing legal proceedings, would eliminate the safeguard of heightened scrutiny. This represents an unreasonable burden and places the defendant in a fundamentally unfair position, jeopardizing his pending appeals.”
“The defendant did not seek commutation. The defendant did not apply for commutation,” the filing continues. “The defendant is opposed to commutation and has declined to sign the documents associated with the commutation.”