President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday repeated his pledge to "vigorously pursue" the death penalty, taking aim at President Joe Biden's decision to commute the sentences of nearly all federal death row prisoners.
Trump campaigned on expanding the federal death penalty following his first term, during which his Justice Department put 13 federal inmates to death — a high that had not been seen since Grover Cleveland's presidency in the late 1800s.
Biden, meanwhile, is contending with criticism for his death row commutations, not only from his political adversaries but law enforcement groups and some families of victims.
The daughter of Donna Major, one of two South Carolina bank employees killed by federal death row inmate Brandon Council in 2017, slammed Council's commutation as being unfair and an "abuse of power."
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," Risher said.
Persons:
Donald Trump, Joe Biden's, Trump, Biden, Pope Francis, Robert Bowers, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Grover Cleveland's, Tim Timmerman, Rachel, Marvin Gabrion, Rachel Timmerman's, ” Timmerman, Gabrion, Donna Major, Brandon, isn't, Heather Turner, Joe Biden, Sharon Risher, Ethel Lance, Tywanza Sanders, Susie Jackson, Risher, There's
Organizations:
Justice Department, Law, White, Boston Marathon, NBC, Brandon Council, Facebook
Locations:
Trump's, Pittsburgh, Charleston , South Carolina, Grand Rapids , Michigan, South Carolina, Charleston