NOCOP Statement on Joe Biden Commuting the Death Sentence of Former NOPD Cop Len Davis

Issued December 27th, 2024

On Monday December 23rd, Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 out of 40 federal inmates who had been on death row. These 37, including the killer cop Len Davis, will now serve life in prison without parole. The three that did not have their sentences commuted were excluded because they were convicted of crimes of terror. 

The move to commute sentences by the lame duck president was the result of pressure from the prison reform movement. However, the inclusion of Len Davis, a killer cop responsible for the wrongful incarceration of at least 5 Black men and the murder of Kim Groves, is not justice. The fact that this decision was made the day before Christmas Eve and without the consultation of the Groves family was inconsiderate, wrong, and harmful.

Who is Len Davis the “Desire Terrorist”?

Len Davis is a former NOPD officer convicted in 1994 for the murder of Kim Groves after he orchestrated Kim’s assassination in retaliation for her reporting Len Davis for police brutality against a minor. Despite Joe Biden’s decision, Len Davis is still known by the community as the “Desire Terrorist”. This is reflected in a statement by the current New Orleans DA Jason Williams who stated that “Davis was inflicting a ring of terror in his community, [he] was engaged in narcotics trafficking, murder, murder for hire, protecting certain drug dealers”.

Len Davis did not act alone, he collaborated with a network of dirty cops within a corrupt system that enabled him. Len Davis was a monster created by a New Orleans Police Department that routinely violated the civil rights of Black People then and today. Davis was able to abuse the lack of oversight to hide his crimes. If not for the FBI investigation into an NOPD drug dealing scheme, he might not have ever been arrested. Many years later the NOPD still fails to meet constitutional standards and remains under a federal consent decree.

Len Davis also worked within a broken justice system that wrongly sent at least 5 Black men to prison for decades. Bernell Juluke, Kunta Gable, Leroy Nelson, Dwayne LeBlanc, and Sherman Singleton were all wrongfully incarcerated for murder, because of Davis. They were only released after spending a majority of their life fighting to prove their innocence from behind bars.

A word about Kim Groves

Kim Groves was not just a name. She was a mother who was loved by her community and is still loved by her family today. Kim was a single mother of three who was preparing for her daughter Jasmine’s birthday when she was taken from her kids.

When Len Davis targeted Kim, the only thing that she had done wrong was trust that it would be safe to file a complaint with the NOPD about police brutality. Kim filed her complaint after witnessing and intervening when she saw Len Davis and another officer beating on Nathan Norwood, a neighborhood child she knew. By standing up to injustice Kim embodied the kind of hero that we should all aspire to be. 

Her daughter Jasmine Groves is the greatest testament to Kim’s spirit. Jasmine is a leader in her community, an advocate for families of police brutality victims and a beloved member of New Orleans for Community Oversight of the Police (NOCOP). After her mother’s death Jasmine led the charge to get justice for her mom and keep her memory alive. Due to an uncaring system and constant appeals by Len Davis it took 24 years for the city to settle a civil suit with the family.

Joe Biden Does Not Care

The Black liberation movement has fought to end the death penalty, because it is an unjust mechanism and a part of the cruel legacy of the lynching of Black men in America. Len Davis is himself a living embodiment of that terror and was the first person to be sentenced to death for a civil rights violation. 

That sentencing was correct in 1994, and in 2005 when Davis was re-sentenced and is still correct today if we follow Biden’s logic. Joe Biden’s argument being that terror is the exception by which someone should be kept on death row.

This decision is a reflection of Joe Biden’s lackluster use of his clemency powers. Joe Biden has failed to use these powers to pardon political prisoners like Leonard Peltier. He failed to speak up on behalf of Black Political prisoners like Mumia Abu-Jamal, or men like Marcellus Williams who was executed in Missouri without comment from Biden.

Biden’s decision to commute Len Davis this close to the  holidays without consulting the Groves family is inconsiderate and wrong. Jasmine, who had just this year held a final memorial for her mother on the 30th anniversary of her death, now has to consider another obstacle to finding closure. 

We Demand Justice

While it may be impossible to reverse Biden’s decision to commute Len Davis’s sentence there is still justice to be done:

Biden must use his Clemency powers for justice.

-Pardon Leonard Peltier and all political prisoners in federal prison.

Biden can and should speak up for political prisoners like Mumia Abu-Jamal. 

The DOJ must Indict and convict killer cops, when DAs and Attorney Generals fail to do so.

-The DOJ must indict Kory York, Chris Harpin and all of Ronald Greene’s killers for murder