The Convicted Tree of Life Synagogue shooter is one of only three federal inmates on death row who was not granted a commutation Monday morning by President Joe Biden.
Audrey Glickman, who survived the shooting at Tree of Life, says she felt relieved when she heard the news that President Biden did not commute the death sentence of Robert Bowers.
Glickman says she was one of the survivors who wrote a letter to the president pleading for him not to commute Bower's sentence.
“The death sentence is meant to cut someone away from society,” said Glickman. “This is true, all the way back to Biblical times and to excommunicate them cleanly so that they can’t commit the crime again and so that they can’t influence others to do the same.”
The Boston Marathon bomber and a man convicted of opening fire at a predominantly black church in South Carolina, were also not granted a commutation.
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“President 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,” the White House said in a post on social media.
Biden converted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The inmates include people who were convicted in the slayings of police, military officers and federal prisoners and guards. Others were involved in deadly robberies and drug deals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.