Virginia governor criticizes Biden for commuting sentences of 2 men

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin on Saturday sharply criticized President Biden for commuting the life sentences of two Virginia men who had pleaded guilty in connection with the killing of a police officer. In a telephone interview, the governor said that Mr. Biden had made the decision against the advice of one of the top federal prosecutors in the state.

Mr. Biden announced Friday that he commuted the sentences of 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes. Each, he said, served a disproportionately long sentence based on outdated guidelines. The pardons marked the broadest commutation of individual sentences ever issued by a US president.

Among those whose sentences were commuted were Ferrone Claiborne and Terence Richardson, who were both arrested in 1998 and charged with murder in the slaying of Allen Gibson, a Waverly, Va., police officer. Mr. Gibson was shot while chasing suspected drug dealers. As part of a plea deal with local prosecutors, Mr. Richardson pleaded guilty in 1999 to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter and received a five-year sentence; Mr. Claiborne pleaded guilty to a related misdemeanor and was sentenced to time served.

The officer’s family and state law enforcement officials were outraged by the light sentences the men received. In 2000, federal prosecutors filed charges against Mr. Richardson and Mr. Claiborne and charged them with conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and murder in the killing of Mr. Gibson.

A jury acquitted the men of the murder, but it convicted them of the drug charges, putting the men on track for 10 years in prison. Then the judge at the sentencing concluded that they had participated in the murder and gave them life imprisonment.

For years, supporters of criminal justice reform have called on presidents to pardon Mr. Richardson and Mr. Claiborne because, they have argued, the men were not convicted of murder by a jury. Both men have denied killing Mr. Gibson.

But on Saturday, Gov. Youngkin accused the Biden administration of obstruction of justice, saying in a telephone interview that Mr. Biden’s decision to sentence the men as non-violent drug offenders was “unconscionable” and “heartbreaking.”

“This is a gross injustice and reflects not only a Biden presidency and a Justice Department that does not seek justice for the victims, but is so self-absorbed that they have forgotten what their duties are,” he said. “My heart breaks for Officer Gibson’s family who was brutally murdered and here they have to live with this again.”

Mr. Youngkin said the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Jessica D. Aber, who was appointed by Mr. Biden, had strongly opposed the change and advised against giving them.

Mrs. Apes’ resistance to the commutations is remarkable. During the process used to consider clemency applications in the Biden administration, prosecutors are often consulted, and their opinions are given significant weight in the decision whether to ultimately grant clemency.

The White House did not respond to questions about Mr. Youngkin’s statement.

Advocates for criminal justice reform have praised Mr. Biden’s use of clemency in the final days of his presidency. In announcing the changes on Friday, Mr. Biden that his decision was “an important step toward correcting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and allowing deserving individuals to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars.”

A commutation leaves a guilty verdict intact but reduces or eliminates the penalty.

The decision to bring a federal prosecution against the two men in 2000 after they received light sentences was seen as aggressive and unique. It was overseen by a future Justice Department prosecutor named James B. Comey, who would go on to become director of the FBI

Matthew Cullen contributed with reporting.