The widow of an Ohio police officer killed in the line of duty in 2005 has blasted President Joe Biden’s decision to spare his killer from the death penalty.
Biden, 82, on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row, meaning they will instead spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
They include Daryl Lawrence, who was convicted in the fatal shooting of Columbus Police Officer Bryan Hurst on January 6, 2005.
Hurst, 33, had been on special duty at a bank when Lawrence burst in with a loaded gun and shot him dead during an armed robbery.
The slain officer left behind a daughter and his widow, Marissa Gibson.
“While this is truly disturbing news for my family on a personal level, it also feels like a complete dismissal and undermining of the federal justice system,” Gibson said in a statement. The Columbus Dispatch.
“Lawrence’s sentence was imposed by a jury and must be upheld as such.”
The widow of Bryan Hurst (pictured), an Ohio police officer who was killed in the line of duty, has rejected President Joe Biden’s decision to spare his killer from the death penalty
Biden commuted the death sentence of Daryl Lawrence (pictured), who was convicted of the fatal shooting of Columbus police officer Bryan Hurst on January 6, 2005
Biden, 82, on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row, meaning they will instead spend the rest of their lives behind bars
Biden’s decision to commute death penalty sentences also spares the lives of child murderers. Only three federal prisoners remain executed.
Among them is Dylann Roof, who in 2015 carried out the racist killings of nine black members of the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is also still slated for execution, along with Robert Bowers, who shot and killed 11 congregants at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history .
Murdered officer Bryan Hurst (photo) left behind his wife and daughter
“I have dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said in a statement Monday.
“Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole.
“This commutation is consistent with my administration’s moratorium on federal executions other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass killings.”
The Biden administration announced a moratorium on the federal death penalty in 2021 to study the protocols used, suspending executions during Biden’s term.
Biden had also pledged in the past to pursue the issue further, pledging to end federal executions without the caveats of terrorism and hate-motivated mass killings.
As he ran for president in 2020, Biden’s campaign website said he would “commit to passing legislation to abolish the death penalty at the federal level, and would encourage states to follow the federal government’s lead.”
Similar language did not appear on Biden’s reelection website before he dropped out of the presidential race in July.
The slain officer’s wife embraces her partner at his funeral in January 2005
In the photo: the widow of the murdered police officer with former President Bush in 2006
Trump, who takes office in January, has repeatedly talked about expanding the number of executions
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, mourn the victims of their despicable actions, and grieve for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable losses,” Biden’s statement continued.
“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 end the use of the death penalty at the federal level.”
He took a political jab at Trump, saying, “In good conscience, I cannot sit back and let a new administration resume the executions I stopped.”
Trump, who takes office on January 20, has repeatedly spoken about expanding the number of executions. In a speech announcing his 2024 campaign, Trump called for those “caught selling drugs to face the death penalty for their heinous acts.”
He later vowed to execute drug and human smugglers and even praised China’s harsher treatment of drug traffickers. During his first term as president, Trump also advocated the death penalty for drug dealers.
There were thirteen federal executions during Trump’s first term, more than under any president in modern history and the first since 2003.
The last three occurred after Election Day in November 2020, but before Trump left office in January, these marked the first time since Grover Cleveland in 1889 that federal prisoners were put to death by a lame-duck president.
Biden recently faced pressure from advocacy groups urging him to take action to make it harder for Trump to increase the use of the death penalty for federal prisoners.
The president’s announcement also comes less than two weeks after he commuted the sentences of about 1,500 people released from prison and placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 39 others convicted of nonviolent crimes , the greatest act of one day. of clemency in modern history.
Boston marathon runner Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (left) and Dylann Roof (right), who carried out the 2015 racist murders of nine black members of the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, continue to be executed