The death penalty has been a difficult issue for me personally. There is a part of me that opposes ANY arbitrary or unnecessary taking of a human life. But there is also a part of me that differentiates between the killing of innocents and the execution of those who are found guilty of killing innocent people and causing lifelong grievous pain for loved ones. At times, I have found myself opposed to the death penalty – and at the same time willing to pull the switch on individuals who have committed the most terrible crimes.
At this point in my life, I tend to lean in favor of the death penalty in cases of the most horrific crimes – as long as the evidence is beyond refutation and the judicial process is fair.
However, I am not conflicted in my opposition to commuting or pardoning death row prisoners who have had their fates determined by evidence, police and judges. There must be extraordinary circumstances for clemency on a case-by-case basis. Blanket commutations, like the ones President Biden has issued, are heartless and wrong … period.
While Biden expresses compassion for those facing capital punishment, he demonstrates an utter and contemptible disregard for the suffering of the victims’ families. His sympathy goes to guys like Jorge Avila-Torrez (pictured above). Biden commuted Avila-Torrez’s death sentence even though he was convicted of raping and murdering three people – 8-year-old Laura Hobbs and 9- ear-old Krystal Tobias — who were riding their bicycles near their home in a Chicago suburb in 2005. Four years later he raped and murdered naval officer Amanda Snell, 20, inside her barracks in Arlington, Virginia. And those are only the ones with which he has been charged.
Or how about drug dealer Kaboni Savage, who killed and ordered the murders of 12 people, including four children? And the list goes on.
In issuing his clemency order, Biden said, “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.” Make no mistake, Biden’s action was NOT condemnation, grief or empathy for the families. What he actually visited on the families was cruel and unnecessary punishment – a life sentence of pain and agony.
Biden said he was “guided by [his] conscience and [his] experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President.”
He continued, “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.”
The first highlighted language is in order to point out that a federal death penalty is NOT the authoritarian decision of a President. It is the responsibility of the Congress.
The latter highlighted language shows that Biden is obsessed with Trump. Regardless, it is not Biden’s role to thwart the actions of a new administration and the will of the public.
Thanks to Biden, the families of these victims will never have justice or closure. The monsters who murdered their loved ones will live relatively comfortably in a federal prison at taxpayer expense — with the families aware of their existence for the rest of their lives.
Biden did not want to hear the concerns of the families and loved ones. He never reached out to them to discuss his plan. In fact, he rejected requests for such meetings from the families who learned of his plan in the media. Biden did not give a damn about the living victims of these heinous crimes. He only cared about his own public image and his liberal creds – perhaps mixed with a false sense of nobility.
In terms of the taxpayer expense, thanks to Biden, the most heinous criminals in society will continue to live on welfare for the rest of their lives. The annual cost to the taxpayer to maintain a person in a federal prison is approximately $40,000 per year according to 2020 figures. Do the math. Those 37 prisoners whose lives Biden just spared will cost the taxpayer more than $1.5 million this year — and that cost will rise significantly every year over the course of their lifetimes. Conversely, these individuals will provide no benefit to society.
And as far as no chance of parole, that is a crap roll. Prisoners convicted to life without parole have been paroled. The families will have to live with that fear.
Biden has already abused the pardoning power in the case of his own son. While claiming devotion to the concept that no man is above the law, Biden literally placed his son above the law – or at least beyond the reach of the law. That is true even if one can understand the love of a father. And in the Hunter case, fatherly love may be intermixed with protecting other members of the Biden family from potential legal problems.
Biden later went on to pardon another 39 prisoners — including an Illinois politician who embezzled millions of taxpayer money and a judge who took bribes to send children to private penal institutions — and issued more than 1500 commutations for allegedly minor crimes.
And now Biden has commuted the sentence of the worst of the worst. He said it was a matter of conscience. We can know that is bullcrap since he did not commute the sentences of three individuals who not only violated the law by also the unwritten law of political correctness — including Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber, Robert Bowers, the shooter at the Tree of Life Synagogue, and Dylann Roof, the shooter at the Mother Emanuel AME Church. If Biden had believed capital punishment was morally wrong, he would have pardoned all death row inmates. But … political calculus obviously played into his decision. We also saw that in his reference to Trump.
Biden’s claim to be motivated by his conscience is interesting when you consider his stand on abortion. He claims—as a Catholic – that he is morally opposed to abortion but does not wish to impose his personal moral views onto the public. In terms of the death penalty, however, he is more than willing to foist his personal moral view onto the public. Either he is lying about his personal opposition to abortion, or his conscience is morally fickle.
It is also interesting that among the influences cited for his decision were conversations with Pope Francis. It is reported that Francis brought up the issue of death sentences with Biden — and encouraged him to go the commutation route. (I find it interesting that the Pope has never brought up the issue of abortion with Biden in view of his active support for abortion on demand. But then, what can you expect when you have two hypocrites dealing with moral principles? But I digress.)
These and future pardons will further damage Biden’s pathetic legacy. It will damage the Democratic Party as a political institution more sympathetic to criminals than their victims. As a self-proclaimed “institutionalist,” Biden undermines the institutions of justice
Unfortunately, the damage these commutations have done is irreparable. No … this was not an act of compassion on Biden’s part. It was an expression of heartless contempt for the families and loved ones of the victims. It was a contempt for the American judicial system. It was contempt for the opinion of the American people.
Biden may see himself as Santa Claus this holiday season, but he played the Grinch by giving Christmas gifts to vicious criminals … and putting coal in the stockings of the families of their victims.
So, there ‘tis.