President Joe Biden announced on Monday that he is commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
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Two of those sentences commuted are for two men convicted of killing a family in 2006 on the Florida Turnpike. Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez Jr. were convicted and sentenced to death in March 2009 for murder after gunning the family down, according to a FOX news article. Jose Luis Escobedo, 28, his wife, Yessica Guerrero Escobedo, 25, and their two young sons were found shot to death along Florida’s Turnpike in October 2006.
The killings were to settle a drug dispute, the jury found.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden’s statement said about the 37 cases he commuted. “But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, vice president, and now president, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”
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Read: Biden commutes sentences of nearly all Federal death row inmates
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