GRAND RAPIDS, MI – In a move that has sparked both outrage and praise, President Joe Biden has commuted the death sentence of Marvin Gabrion, Michigan’s only federal death-row inmate, to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The decision is part of Biden’s sweeping commutation of 37 federal death row inmates’ sentences during his final month in office.
Gabrion, 71, was convicted of the 1997 first-degree murder of Rachel Timmerman, a 19-year-old woman whose brutal killing shocked the community. Two days before she was set to testify in Newaygo County Circuit Court that Gabrion had raped her, she disappeared along with her 11-month-old daughter, Shannon.
Prosecutors believe Gabrion lured Timmerman out under false pretenses, restrained her with tape, handcuffs, and chains, and threw her into Oxford Lake in the Manistee National Forest. Her body was found weeks later, submerged with a cinderblock attached. Shannon’s body was never recovered.
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Federal prosecutors have described the case as one of "utter depravity." Gabrion’s trial revealed that he is suspected of killing three other individuals: John Weeks, who allegedly helped lure Timmerman to her death; Wayne Davis, a witness to Gabrion’s earlier crimes; and Robert Allen, a mentally disabled man whose Social Security checks were stolen. All three men disappeared under suspicious circumstances linked to Gabrion.
Click here to learn more about the other death row inmates President Biden gave a lifeline.
In 2002, a federal jury sentenced Gabrion to death—the only such case in Michigan, a state that has long abolished the death penalty at the state level. The case was tried in federal court because the murder occurred on federal land. Despite multiple appeals, the courts upheld the death sentence, with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals calling the crime “utterly depraved.”
President Biden's moratorium on federal executions, issued in 2021, prevented Gabrion’s execution. In justifying the commutations, Biden stated he opposes the death penalty except in cases of terrorism or hate-motivated mass murder. The White House further explained that the decision was made to prevent the incoming Trump administration from resuming executions.
The move has drawn intense criticism from victims' families and law enforcement. Rachel Timmerman’s family expressed deep disappointment, arguing that the commutation denies the full measure of justice for her brutal killing and the enduring pain caused by the unresolved disappearance of her infant daughter.
“Rachel’s life was taken in the most horrific way imaginable, and now the justice that her family fought for has been taken as well,” a family spokesperson said.
Supporters of Biden’s decision, including the Equal Justice Initiative, lauded the commutations as a step toward ending what they call a flawed and inequitable death penalty system. “This decision marks an important turning point,” said Bryan Stevenson, the organization’s founder, adding that it “sends a strong message about our values as a nation.”
Gabrion will serve the rest of his life in federal prison, housed at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. Critics argue that life without parole is insufficient punishment for crimes of such brutality, while advocates maintain it eliminates the moral and logistical complications of capital punishment.
As Biden’s presidency comes to an end, the decision adds to his legacy as the president who has commuted more federal sentences than any predecessor. However, for families like the Timmermans, the decision is a painful reminder of justice unfulfilled.
