Before leaving office, former president Joe Biden approved the commutation of 37 federal inmates who were on death row. However, one inmate chose not to accept the offer.
The commutation was extended to Iouri Mikhel, who was sentenced to death in 2007 along with his accomplice Jurijus Kadamovas. Both were found guilty of kidnapping individuals in California for ransom and then discarding their bodies in a reservoir.
In the years 2001 and 2002, the duo murdered five people and disposed of their remains in a body of water near Yosemite National Park, despite having secured over $1 million in ransom money.
The 59-year-old Mikhel, originally from Soviet Russia, had demanded over $5.5 million from his victims’ families.
From October 2001 to January 2002, Mikhel and Kadamovas kidnapped and murdered five individuals, including a pregnant woman.
The victims, targeted by these serial killers, included 58-year-old Meyer Muscatel, 39-year-old Rita Pekler, 35-year-old Alexander Umansky, 29-year-old Nick Kharabadze, and 37-year-old George Safiev.
Three of the victims were killed by suffocation, while the other two were strangled, and all were subsequently disposed of in New Melones Lake.
Mikhel informed a judge of his decision to decline commutation, expressing concerns that it might negatively impact any future appeals he might pursue.
His appeal suggested that his conviction and sentencing resulted from the ‘unconstitutional manner in which the charges were brought against him’.
The appeal stated: “Numerous violations of the established procedural statutes during the trial as well as multiple violations of defendants’ rights—the inept work of the defense team were the very definition of inefficient assistance of counsel for one.”
This situation arose as two other death row inmates, who also had the opportunity for commutation by Biden, chose not to proceed with the paperwork.
Shannon Agofsky and Len Davis were part of the group of 37 federal inmates whose death penalties were commuted by the former president shortly before Christmas. Biden announced that these inmates would have their sentences revised to life imprisonment without the chance of parole.
Biden’s decision was rooted in his belief that the United States should ‘stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level, except in cases of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder’.
Yet, both Agofsky and Davis also opted not to sign the commutation documents.