Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) has sharply criticized President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences of Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks, the two men convicted in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Samantha Burns, calling it “horribly misguided and insulting.”
Biden’s announcement on Monday commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment without parole as part of a broader shift in the administration’s stance on capital punishment. Among those affected were Basham and Fulks, whose crimes devastated the Burns family and the Huntington, West Virginia, community.
Samantha Burns, a 19-year-old Marshall University student, was last seen on November 11, 2002, near the Huntington Mall in Barboursville, West Virginia.
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She was abducted by Basham and Fulks, who had escaped from a Kentucky prison days earlier. Despite extensive searches, Burns’ remains were never found. The brutal nature of the crime left an indelible mark on the region.
Basham and Fulks were convicted of kidnapping resulting in death, a federal crime that carried the death penalty.
Senator Manchin, a vocal advocate for the Burns family, expressed his deep disappointment with Biden’s decision, emphasizing the family’s ongoing grief.
“After speaking to Samantha Burns’ parents, I believe it is my duty to speak on their behalf and say President Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences for the two men convicted in her brutal murder is horribly misguided and insulting,” Manchin said in a Facebook post.
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“Particularly since Samantha’s family wrote letters to President Biden and the Department of Justice, pleading for them not to do this but their concerns were unheard,” said Manchin. “I can’t imagine the grief that Kandi and John Burns are reliving and dealing with during the holiday season. As their U.S. Senator and a father, I want to express my deepest sympathy for their continued suffering. Please know that Samantha will forever be in our prayers.”
Meanwhile in Florida, St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson expressed outrage Monday after Biden commuted the death sentences of Ricardo Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Troya, who were convicted of murdering a West Palm Beach family on Florida’s Turnpike in 2006.
“Where is the justice for the Escobedo family that was murdered in cold blood?” Pearson asked, referring to the brutal killings of Jose Luis Escobedo, his wife Yessica Guerro Escobedo, and their two young sons, Luis Damian and Luis Julian.
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The family was gunned down after their Jeep Cherokee was stopped on the highway, a crime that shook the community and led to the death sentences of Sanchez and Troya more than a decade ago.
With just over a month remaining in his presidency, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates, including Sanchez and Troya, reducing their punishment to life imprisonment without parole. Only three individuals remain on federal death row following Biden’s actions.
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The White House justified the commutations as part of Biden’s broader stance against the death penalty. A statement from the administration explained that the president believes capital punishment should be reserved for cases of terrorism or hate-fueled mass murder. Biden previously imposed a federal moratorium on executions early in his term, halting any pending death sentences.
Pearson criticized the decision, accusing the Biden administration of prioritizing ideology over justice.
“Waking up to news that Joe Biden commuted the death sentence for Ricardo Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Troya, minimizing it to a life sentence, is disheartening,” Pearson said. “These two earned their right to die for the heinous crimes they committed.”
“This is an example of the woke ideology this current administration exhibits; this time it hits home right here in St Lucie County,” Pearson said.
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Sanchez and Troya were convicted of stopping the Escobedo family’s vehicle on the Turnpike before shooting all four family members and leaving them dead at the scene.
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