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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Oklahoma | Death row inmate dies in cell ahead of execution date

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The man had been convicted of the 2017 murder of a Tecumseh police officer after he was pulled over by the officer and had outstanding warrants and shot him to avoid being arrested

An Oklahoma man convicted of the 2017 murder of a Tecumseh police officer and faced the death penalty for his crimes has died in prison awaiting his execution, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

Byron James Shepard, 43, had been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Tecumseh Police Officer Justin Terney in 2017. 

After being convicted by a Pottawatomie County jury back in 2019 he was sentenced to die by lethal injection and has been incarcerated in Oklahoma's death row ever since awaiting his execution date which had yet to be set pending appeals of his death sentence.

“We can confirm that death-row inmate Byron Shepard (ODOC #747199) was pronounced deceased early this morning, Tuesday, Jan. 14, at a local hospital. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections Office of Inspector General is investigating his death per normal procedure. As no physical injury or trauma was observed, the Medical Examiner’s office will determine the official cause of death," The Oklahoma Department of Corrections said in a statement.

The 22-year-old Terney died on March 27, 2017, from gunshot wounds he suffered during a shootout with Shepard. Terney had conducted a traffic stop on a car in which Shepard was a passenger and a fugitive from the law at the time of the stop.

Shepard during the traffic stop had reportedly given Terney a fake name and after shooting him fled into the woods.

Source: themirror.com, Anthony Orrico, January 14, 2025

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



Location: Oklahoma, USA
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