WEST PALM BEACH — President Joe Biden commuted the federal death sentences of two Palm Beach County men who murdered a family of four along Florida’s Turnpike in 2006.
Daniel “Homer” Troya and Ricardo “Ricky” Sanchez Jr. were among 37 death row inmates whose sentences Biden reclassified Monday to life without the possibility of parole — a move meant to stop President-elect Donald Trump from restarting stalled executions.
A Palm Beach County jury sentenced the men to die in 2009 for the murders of 4-year-old Luis Julian Escobedo and 3-year-old Luis Damian Escobedo, whose bodies were found riddled with bullets along the turnpike in Port St. Lucie on Oct. 13, 2006.
The same jury gave each men life sentences for the murders of their parents, Jose Luis Escobedo, 28, and Yessica Escobedo, 25, who investigators said moved to Greenacres from Texas to join a drug trafficking ring.
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According to prosecutors, convicted drug boss Danny Varela ordered Troya and Sanchez to kill Jose to wipe out a large drug debt and to steal 15 kilos of cocaine. Sanchez and Troya followed the Escobedos north to the Daytona Beach area where Jose made the drug pickup, then killed them on the turnpike.
Troya and Sanchez were the first federal defendants sentenced to death in Florida since Congress reinstated the Federal Death Penalty Act in 1988. They each received two death sentences for the child victims, in addition to five life terms.
In an appeal, lawyers for the men raised several issues with the death sentences. These included the fact that jurors weren’t allowed to hear some details on how Sanchez could maintain a positive relationship with his family if sentenced to life, and objections from Troya that U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley kept an expert from testifying that he posed no future danger.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld their sentences in 2013, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review its ruling in 2015.
See full list of names: President Biden commutes sentences of 37 federal death row inmates
Biden pledged to end the death penalty during his presidential campaign and had been under pressure from progressive lawmakers and criminal-justice activists to commute the sentences of federal death row inmates before Trump takes office.
“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden said in a statement.
He later added: “I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
Biden commuted all but three prisoners on federal death row.
Those who remain are Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 2013 Boston Marathon bomber; Robert Bowers, who killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018; and Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine people in a church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015.
Unlike pardons, commutations are not considered acts of forgiveness or absolution. They only change a person’s punishment. Sentences may be commuted for good behavior, illness or old age, or if the original sentence is considered to be unreasonable harsh compared to other similar cases, according to Cornell Law School.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. Reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Biden commutes Daniel Troya, Ricardo Sanchez from death row