President Joe Biden has reduced the sentences of 37 of the 40 inmates currently on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment. The move spares the lives of inmates convicted of killing police and military officers, as well as several involved in deadly bank robberies or drug deals. The three people who were not on Biden’s commutation list are the surviving Boston Marathon bomber, the convicted murderer from the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, and the gunman from the massacre at the Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston. Biden said he is convinced more than ever that the use of the death penalty at the federal level must be stopped.
The suspect in the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting, Luigi Mangione, is expected to be arraigned on state charges in New York on Monday. He faces 11 state charges, including first-degree murder as an act of terrorism. The hearing marks Mangione’s first opportunity to formally address the accusations brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He also faces a federal murder charge, which carries the maximum potential sentence of death or life in prison.
In the Middle East, U.S. Central Command has reported conducting precision airstrikes in Yemen that targeted militants linked to the Houthi terrorist group. A U.S. fighter jet was also shot down in the Red Sea, with the U.S. military saying it had mistakenly shot down one of its own fighter aircraft. NTD also spoke with Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official, to discuss the latest in the ongoing power struggle in Syria.
