Biden commutes man in Liberty County post office murder
Dec 23, 2024
FLEMING, Ga. (WSAV) — A local case was included in the list of federal death row commutations released by President Joe Biden on Monday.
Meier Jason Brown, 54, was convicted of killing postal worker Sally Gaglia in 2002 during a robbery attempt.
On Nov. 30, 2002, Brown went to the Fleming Post Office to retrieve mail, went home and then returned back to the post office, an appellate court document said.
During the interview, Brown told officials that when Gaglia turned to use an adding machine, Brown put socks on his hands and jumped over the counter. Brown said that he tripped, fell into her and cut her with the knife.
Officials said that he then told law enforcement that he decided to kill her because she knew him. Brown stabbed Gaglia 10 times, court documents said.
Brown was convicted on charges of murder, murder of a federal employee and robbery of federal property.
Prisoners given commuted sentences will no longer face the death penalty. Their sentences will be reclassified to life without the possibility of parole.
President Biden gave commutations of sentences to 37 people on federal death row, but did not commute 3 men. Of the three, Dylan Roof was not commuted.
Roof was the first person in U.S. history to be sentenced to death for a federal hate crime after Roof killed nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.