President Joe Biden's decision to leave mass murderer Dylann Roof on federal death row while commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 men has sparked a backlash from death penalty opponents, including the daughter of one of Roof's victims.
Roof was condemned to death for the racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.
The Reverend Sharon Risher, whose mother Ethel Lee Lance and two cousins were among those killed by Roof, called Biden's decision "unfair" and urged him to "finish the job"—referring to his administration's 2021 moratorium on federal capital punishment—by commuting the sentences of all the men on federal and military death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
You can't rank victims, Mr. President," Risher, who is board chair of Death Penalty Action, told Newsweek. "I am begging you to finish the job, not only with the three men left on federal death row, but also with those on the military death row. There's still time. Finish the job."
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment via email.
www.newsweek.com
Roof was condemned to death for the racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.
The Reverend Sharon Risher, whose mother Ethel Lee Lance and two cousins were among those killed by Roof, called Biden's decision "unfair" and urged him to "finish the job"—referring to his administration's 2021 moratorium on federal capital punishment—by commuting the sentences of all the men on federal and military death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
You can't rank victims, Mr. President," Risher, who is board chair of Death Penalty Action, told Newsweek. "I am begging you to finish the job, not only with the three men left on federal death row, but also with those on the military death row. There's still time. Finish the job."
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment via email.
Joe Biden not commuting Dylann Roof's death sentence sparks backlash
The president commuted the death sentences of almost all of the men on federal death row, but left out three of the most well-known, including Roof.
www.newsweek.com
