President Joe Biden commuted the death sentence of an inmate who murdered a prison guard the day after the 30th anniversary of the horrific act.
Inmate Anthony Battle struck Correctional Officer D’Antonio Washington in the head with a hammer three times, leading to the officer’s death on Dec. 22, 1994, the Correctional Peace Officers Foundation wrote in a post last week commemorating his service. Battle already faced a life sentence for murdering his wife, a member of the Marine Corps.
Thirty years after the officer’s death, Biden included Battle among 37 death row inmates who he granted clemency on Monday, reducing his sentence to life without parole. Battle assaulted two other officers at two separate institutions after murdering Washington, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
“[Biden] believes that America must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level, except in cases of terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder – which is why today’s actions apply to all but those cases,” a statement from the White House explains. “When President Biden came into office, his Administration imposed a moratorium on federal executions, and his actions today will prevent the next Administration from carrying out the execution sentences that would not be handed down under current policy and practice.”
At the end of his trial, Battle told the jury that Washington “died like a dog,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Washington was the first African American officer killed while on duty at a federal prison, per the BOP.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) celebrated Biden’s decision Monday as building on his “legacy of racial justice, humanity and morality.”
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