Outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) is denouncing as “misguided” and “disgusting” President Biden’s move to commute the sentences of two men convicted of murdering a student at Marshall University.
“After speaking to Samantha Burns’ parents, I believe it is my duty to speak on their behalf and say President Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences for the two men convicted in her brutal murder is horribly misguided and insulting,” Manchin wrote in a Thursday statement on X.
Manchin, for years one of them most conservative members of the Democratic caucus, officially severed ties with the party in May to become an independent after announcing last year that he would not be seeking reelection.
“Particularly since Samantha’s family wrote letters to President Biden & the Department of Justice, pleading for them not to do this, but their concerns were unheard. I can’t imagine the grief that Kandi and John Burns are reliving and dealing with during the holiday season,” he said in his statement this week.
Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks were granted executive clemency along with 35 other inmates on Monday, when Biden announced he would convert their execution sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Advocates and progressive lawmakers had urged the president to use his executive power to pardon or commute the sentences of others, as he did for his son Hunter Biden, whom he pardoned in December despite previously saying he would not get involved in his legal woes.
President-elect Trump appeared infuriated by the decision, telling the inmates to “go to hell” on Christmas Day, while others offered a mixed response.
Ahead of the criticism, Biden said he was “guided” by his conscience to strike a blow against capital punishment.
“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,” he said in a statement.
“Guided by my conscience and my experience … I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” he added.
