Two federal death row inmates reject Biden's commutation as they persist in their efforts to prove their innocence.

Two of the 37 federal death row inmates whose sentences were commuted to life without parole by President Biden last month are refusing clemency.

According to court documents, Shannon Agofsky, 53, and Len Davis, 60, both in the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, are refusing to sign the paperwork for the president's clemency action because of the legal options available to them on death row.

On Dec. 30, the pair submitted emergency motions in federal court seeking an injunction to halt the modification of their death sentences. They argued that doing so would eliminate the heightened scrutiny that death penalty appeals undergo.

The legal process of heightened scrutiny involves the courts closely examining cases, such as death penalty appeals, for errors, as these cases have significant consequences.

"Stripping a defendant of heightened scrutiny while he has active litigation in court is an undue burden that leaves him in a position of fundamental unfairness, which would decimate his pending appellate procedures, as Agofsky's filing states."

In his filing, Davis, a former New Orleans police officer, stated that he has consistently believed that imposing a death sentence would bring attention to the widespread misconduct committed by the Justice Department.

According to Davis, the case law on this issue is "quite murky," and there is no assurance that the two inmates will have their death sentences reinstated.

In 1927, the Supreme Court ruled that a president has the power to grant reprieves and pardons without the convict's consent. Despite this, both inmates stated in their filings that they never requested commutation.

In 1989, Agofsky was found guilty by a jury for the murder of Dan Short, an Oklahoma bank president. The victim's body was discovered in a lake following prosecutors' claims that Agofsky and his brother, Joseph Agofsky, abducted and killed Short before stealing $71,000 from the bank.

Joseph Agofsky was acquitted of murder but received a life sentence for robbery. He passed away in prison in 2013.

Shannon Agofsky was given a life sentence for murder and robbery charges and later convicted of the 2001 stomping death of fellow inmate Luther Plant while in prison. A jury recommended a death sentence for the latter case in 2004.

Last week, in his filing, Agofsky stated that he is challenging the manner in which he was accused of murder in Plant's death and is also seeking to prove his innocence in the original case for which he was imprisoned.

Laura, his wife who married him in 2019 over the phone, told NBC News that his lawyers advised him to seek a presidential commutation, but he declined because he was given legal counsel that was crucial in his appeals as a death row inmate. She added that her husband still has lawyers working on his case.

Her husband's sentence commutation is not a win for him because she believes there is evidence that can prove his innocence.

She stated that he does not desire to pass away in prison with the label of a cold-blooded murderer.

In 1994, Kim Groves was murdered and Davis was found guilty of violating her civil rights. Groves had previously filed a complaint against Davis as a police officer, accusing him of beating a teenager in her neighborhood. Prosecutors alleged that Davis hired a drug dealer to kill Groves.

In 2005, a federal appeals court reinstated the death sentence of Davis, which had initially been overturned.

According to his filing, Davis has consistently claimed his innocence and contended that the federal court lacked the authority to prosecute him for civil rights violations.

Both Davis and Agofsky are urging a judge to appoint a co-counsel in their requests for an injunction of the commutations.

The Biden administration put a temporary halt on federal executions, but President-elect Trump has promised to increase the number of executions once he is back in office.

"I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level," Biden stated in a recent statement. "I cannot, in good conscience, allow a new administration to resume executions that I had halted."

Three federal death row inmates who were not granted clemency are Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted in the 2013 Boston marathon bombing; Dylann Roof, found guilty in the 2017 mass shooting at a Charleston, South Carolina, church; and Robert Bowers, sentenced for the 2018 mass shooting at a Pittsburgh Synagogue.