An ex-Marine convicted of rape and multiple murders, including strangling a U.S. Navy petty officer to death in Arlington, has been taken off of death row.
Jorge Avila Torrez, 36, is one of 37 federal prisoners who saw their death sentences commuted by President Joe Biden today (Monday).
He will continue to serve life without parole for crimes including the 2009 killing of 20-year-old Amanda Jean Snell inside of her barracks at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.
The killer, who was convicted in April 2014, told an informant inside the Arlington County Detention Center that he entered Snell’s room while she slept before binding her wrists and strangling her with the power cord from her laptop.
Torrez, who was a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps at the time, then concealed Snell’s body inside a wall locker where it was found two days later.
Torrez was sentenced to death following a jury trial in 2014.
He is currently in the custody of the Virginia Department of Corrections, having been sentenced in December 2010 to five consecutive life sentences plus 168 years for the abduction of two Arlington women and the abduction and rape of another.
Torrez also admitted to the 2005 murders of an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old in his native Illinois, where he was sentenced to 100 years in prison in 2019.
In a statement, below, Biden expressed concern that the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump would resume federal executions, most of which paused under the Biden administration.
I’ve dedicated my career to reducing violent crime and ensuring a fair and effective justice system.
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.
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.
But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President, 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.
Death sentences remain in place for only three federal prisoners: Dzhokar Tsarnaev, who was convicted in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing; Dylann Roof, who was convicted of killing nine people in a 2015 shooting at a South Carolina church; and Robert Bowers, who was convicted of killing 11 people in the 2018 shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue.
A former version of this article referred to Amanda Snell as a Naval officer — that is incorrect. The term “Naval officer” is an actual rank and does not refer broadly to an officer within the U.S. Navy. The error has been fixed.
