Daniel Lewis Lee, a former white supremacist who robbed and murdered a family of three, including their 8-year-old daughter, was scheduled to be executed on Monday.
A judge on Friday blocked what would have been the first federal execution in 17 years after a petition from the victim’s family asked the court to consider their risk to COVID-19 by traveling to attend the execution.
Daniel Lewis Lee, a former white supremacist who robbed and murdered a family of three, including their 8-year-old daughter, was scheduled to be executed on Monday. But now his death sentence has been put on hold after the court granted a preliminary injunction from the family of Lee’s victims.
Earlene Peterson lost her daughter Nancy Mueller, and her granddaughter, Sarah Powell, in the crime for which Lee was convicted. She, along with her surviving daughter and granddaughter, filed a petition with the court, explaining that traveling across the country during the pandemic to attend the execution would put them at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
Chief Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson, of the Southern District of Indiana, halted the execution, writing that going forward could irreparably harm Peterson. „The harm to Ms. Peterson… is being forced to choose whether being present for the execution of a man responsible for the death of her daughter and granddaughter is worth defying her doctor’s orders and risking her own life,“ the judge wrote.
As of Friday, the facility where the execution will take place, U. S. Penitentiary Terre Haute, has four inmates who are currently positive for the coronavirus, according to the Bureau of Prisons.
The court’s order says a new date for Lee’s execution will be set when the Bureau of Prisons can show „reasonable consideration“ for Peterson and her family’s right to be present at the execution.
