WASHINGTON, DC (Michigan News Source) – President Joe Biden, a self-proclaimed advocate of justice and unity, handed out early Christmas gifts to some of the most violent criminals in America. He commuted death sentences for 37 federal inmates, including Michigan’s sole death row convict, Marvin Gabrion.

The White House said in a statement, “[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 – which is why today’s actions apply to all but those cases.”

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Evidently, the actions of Marvin Gabrion weren’t heinous enough for President Biden to leave him on death row. Gabrion, as Michigan News Source reported two years ago, holds the grim distinction of being the only Michigander on federal death row. Although Michigan abolished the death penalty in 1846, Gabrion’s case falls under federal jurisdiction. He was convicted in 2002 of the 1997 kidnapping and murder of 19-year-old Rachel Timmerman from Cedar Springs, a crime committed in a federal wildlife area, which led to his death sentence.

Thanks to President Biden, Gabrion, who is now 71-years-old, will avoid execution and live out his days in prison after the president decided to commute his sentence on Monday, two days before Christmas.

Critics say this decision isn’t just misguided – it’s a slap in the face to victims, their families, and the idea of justice itself. Gabrion’s commutation is sparking outrage, not only for the horrific nature of his crime but also for the timing – just before Christmas. For Rachel Timmerman’s family and the loved ones of other victims, Biden’s decision feels less like an act of mercy and more like a painful reminder that justice is slipping through the cracks. Some critics also argue it wasn’t about compassion at all but a calculated jab at the incoming Trump administration.

A trail of horror: Gabrion’s crimes go far beyond one victim.

While Michigan itself doesn’t support capital punishment, there’s little sympathy for someone like Gabrion, whose actions were beyond heinous. Gabrion’s crime wasn’t just a murder; it was a nightmare. He abducted Timmerman to silence her before she could testify against him in a sexual assault case. Police think Timmerman was alive when Gabrion threw her in the lake after covering her eyes with tape and wrapping chains around her body.

Gabrion is also suspected in several other murders and is assumed to be linked to the disappearance of Timmerman’s 11-month-old baby, Shannon, whose hasn’t been found since Timmerman was killed. Police and family members have always assumed that Gabrion killed the baby – and prosecutors in the case have called Gabrion a “serial killer.”

Fifty-eight witnesses testified against Timmerman about his violent past when he was in court for the Timmerman murder. Two of them said their homes were set on fire after having a disagreement with Gabrion and another said he shot at his home after he told him to leave a party. Another witness said that Gabrion aimed a rifle at her and her two-year-old daughter when she walked to her car and followed her for two miles after she left him.

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Rachel’s father, Tim, has said in the past about Gabrion, “I want the man that murdered my daughter to know that he is going to be put to death. Just as Rachel knew on the shores of Oxford Lake that she was going to be put to death.”

However, that will not come to pass.

Critics cry foul.

Biden’s commutations are being met with much backlash. Families of victims, law enforcement officials, and many lawmakers have expressed outrage.

Tim Timmerman spoke to WOOD TV8 recently about the commutation and said, “We thought the timing was despicable.” He said to the news outlet, “I offered to speak with you today because I’m the family of a victim, and I think President Biden offered a Christmas gift to the perpetrators of murder, but he offered only pain to the victims, the families of the victims.”

Steven Cheung, the Trump team’s communications director said about the Biden commutations, ”These are among the worst killers in the world, and this abhorrent decision by Joe Biden is a slap in the face to the victims, their families and their loved ones.”

U.S. Lisa McClain, a Bruce Township Republican pointed to Gabrion’s murder of Timmerman on X and said, “Biden just commuted this monster.”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s statement seems to imply that she agrees with Biden’s commutation – and that the decision was a political one made before Trump comes into office. Nessel said, “President Biden has made it clear that, except for in certain types of aggravating circumstances, he doesn’t believe that the death penalty is appropriate. I think what we saw at the end of the Trump administration last time was sort of a rush to execute as many people as possible.”

Apparently, the “aggravating” factors of Timmerman’s brutal murder and Gabrion’s violent criminal history weren’t severe enough to deter the president’s decision.