Biden commutes Michigan man's death penalty sentence to life in prison
(CBS DETROIT) - President Biden on Monday commuted the sentence of a Michigan man who was on death row for killing a woman more than 20 years ago.
Marvin Charles Gabrion II, 71, was convicted in 2002 of killing 19-year-old Rachel Timmerman in the Manistee National Forest in Newaygo County, north of Grand Rapids, back in 1997 before she could testify against him in a rape case. Two fishermen found Timmerman's body bound with duct tape, chains and cinder blocks in Oxford Lake.
Gabrion was arrested in 1997 in Sherman, New York.
Gabrion was one of 37 inmates who received clemency from Mr. Biden, commuting their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Meanwhile, three other inmates did not receive clemency: the convicted murderer in the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting, the gunman at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, and the surviving Boston Marathon bomber.
Michigan outlawed the death penalty in 1847, becoming the first English-speaking territory to abolish capital punishment, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. However, Timmerman's murder happened on federal property, which put the case in federal court and allowed the government to seek the ultimate punishment.
According to court documents, Gabrion was also accused of killing Timmerman's 11-month-old daughter, Shannon, who has never been found, as well as three other people, Wayne Davis, Robert Allen and John Weeks.
Investigators alleged that Gabrion killed Allen in 1995 and attempted to collect a Social Security check for Allen in 1997 in Sherman, New York, court documents state. They also allege that Gabrion killed Davis, who was named a witness in the rape case, and Weeks, who was identified as an accomplice to Timmerman's murder.
Davis' body was found floating in another lake a few months after the trial. Allen and Weeks' bodies were never found. No charges have been filed in those cases.
Gabrion is currently in a federal center in Missouri.