Barack Obama has commuted the sentence handed down to a former soldier being held on the military’s death row.Dwight Loving’s sentence was one of the 209 commutations handed down by the President on Tuesday, in one of his final acts before leaving the White House.Loving, a former private first-class, had his punishment reduced from death to life in prison without parole.
The 47-year-old was convicted over the killings of two cab drivers in Texas in December 1988.
He was stationed at the Fort Hood Army base at the time.
One of the drivers, Christopher Fay, was a 20-year-old Army Private and part-time cabbie when he was gunned down. The other, 44-year-old Bobby Sharbino, was a retired Army sergeant.
A third cab driver, Howard Harrison, escaped Loving after he managed to knock a gun out of the convicted killer’s hands.
Loving was convicted over the killings of two cab drivers in Texas in December 1988
Loving was found guilty by a military judge of two counts of premeditated murder and one count of attempted murder.
He was also found guilty of robbing two 7-Eleven convenience stores just days before the killings.
‘Death sentence commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, on the condition that Loving shall never have any rights, privileges, claims, or benefits arising under the parole and suspension or remission of sentence laws of the United States and the regulations promulgated thereunder governing federal prisoners confined in any penal institution,’ a White House statement read.
If Loving would have been put to death, he would have been the first military member executed since 1961. A total of 135 men have been executed by the military since 1916.
Loving was stationed at the Fort Hood Army base at the time of the killings. One of the drivers, Christopher Fay, was a 20-year-old Army Private and part-time cabbie when he was gunned down. The other, 44-year-old Bobby Sharbino, was a retired Army sergeant
Obama broke a White House record on Tuesday by commuting 209 sentences and pardoning 64 people
Just six men remain on military’s death row, including Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009.
On Tuesday, Obama broke a White House record by commuting 209 sentences and pardoning 64 people.
The President has handed out a sum total of 1,385 commutations during his time in office – more than the last 12 presidents combined, the White House said Tuesday, and he plans to hand out more on Friday.
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