Biden’s Death Penalty Commutations Include 2 Convicted in California Ransom Hostage Killing Spree

President Joe Biden speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

President Joe Biden on Monday made the unprecedented decision to commute the sentences of 37 of 40 people on federal death row, including two Soviet-born immigrants convicted in brutal ransom spree murders in California.

Jurijus Kadamovas, from Russia, and Iouri Mikhel, from Lithuania, abducted, held hostage, and murdered five people from late 2001 to 2002 in Los Angeles.

A jury convicted them of several federal crimes after a five-month-long trial related to the kidnapping and murder of four businessmen and a woman.

During the penalty phase, the jury unanimously recommended both defendants receive the death penalty.

They were ultimately found guilty of hostage-taking, resulting in death under the Hostage Taking Act, and sentenced in 2007.

Biden said the commutations were consistent with his administration’s policies.

“I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system,” Biden said in a statement.

“Today, I am commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 individuals on federal death row to life sentences without the possibility of parole. These commutations are consistent with the moratorium my administration has imposed on federal executions, in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”

Others given reprieve include those convicted in killings of police, military officers, people on federal land, deadly bank robberies, drug deals, as well as killing of guards or prisoners in federal facilities.

The three people who remain on death row include Dylann Roof, who killed nine black people at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who killed three in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants the Tree of life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018.

Kadamovas’s attorney, Timothy Foley, told The Epoch Times the Lithuanian officials supported the decision.

“As a Lithuanian citizen, Mr Kadamovas was the only European Union/NATO member state citizen on federal death row, and the Lithuanian authorities supported the commutation request.”

Attorneys for Mikhel did not reply to request for comment.

President-elect Donald Trump criticized Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences to life in prison without parole.

“Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!”

President-elect Donald Trump looks on during Turning Point USA's AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Ariz., on Dec. 22, 2024. Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

Trump added his administrator would vigorously pursue the death penalty.

“As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters,” he continued. “We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!”

Bodies Dumped in Reservoir

Kadamovas and Mikhel, along with conspirators, dumped the victims’ bodies in the New Melones Reservoir to the northwest of the Yosemite National Park.

They resided in Los Angeles at the time of the murders and were aided at various times by at least four conspirators, all of whom pleaded guilty and testified for the government, according to court documents.

Their victims were Meyer Muscatel, a real-estate developer; Rita Pekler, a financial advisor; Alexander Umansky, a former employee of one of the conspirators; George Safiev, a wealthy businessman, and his friend Nick Kharabadze.