Three are still on federal death row after Biden's move: Tsarnaev, Bowers, Roof

Three men remain on federal death row after President Joe Biden on Monday comprehensively commuted the sentences of 37 other prisoners awaiting execution.

Biden’s decision aims to maintain his moratorium on federal executions even after he leaves office next month. Although Biden failed to fulfill his campaign promise to abolish the death penalty, the commutations are a way for the outgoing president to prevent President-elect Donald Trump from continuing executions after he is sworn in.

Unlike a blanket pardon, a commutation does not erase an inmate’s conviction but instead imposes a less harsh sentence. In this case, the death row inmates who were commuted by Biden are now serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.

View full list of names:President Biden commutes the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates

Of the 40 inmates on federal death row, only three did not have their sentences commuted. Here’s what you should know about these men:

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 260 people.

Last year marked the 10th anniversary of the 2013 attack, when two bombs made from pressure cookers exploded at the finish line of the celebrated race. The bombings sparked a massive manhunt that led to the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the death of his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev in a shootout with police.

The Tsarnaev brothers also shot and killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier.

Tsarnaev received a death sentence in 2015, which the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated in 2022 after a lower court overturned his conviction.

Robert Bowers

Robert Bowers was convicted in 2018 of an anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 worshipers dead.

The mass shooting is considered the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. Seven others were injured.

Witnesses said Bowers shouted anti-Semitic slurs and called for the death of Jews. Evidence at trial showed Bowers fired about 100 rounds from multiple firearms, including an AR-15.

Bowers was sentenced to death in August 2023 after being convicted of 63 federal charges, including 11 counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.

The synagogue was demolished earlier this year.

Dylan Roof

Dylann Roof was found guilty of killing nine people in a 2015 mass shooting at Mother Emanuel, a historic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina.

In 2017, Roof became the first person in the United States to be sentenced to death for a federal hate crime. According to authorities, Roof opened fire during the closing prayer of a Bible study at the church, raining dozens of bullets on those gathered.

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