A D.C. District Court judge has halted the first federal execution in 17 years. Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, stopped the execution just …
A D. C. District Court judge has halted the first federal execution in 17 years. Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, stopped the execution just hours before it was set to take place.
The Justice Department plans an emergency appeal immediately today. It’s unclear how this will all play out and whether the Supreme Court will intervene to lift the stay Monday afternoon.
Initially, a judge stayed the execution after the family of two of the people Daniel Lewis Lee, a former white supremacist, murdered sued DOJ to stop the executions because of the risk of COVID-19; they had planned to attend the execution.
« Because the Government has scheduled the execution in the midst of a raging pandemic, these three women would have to put their lives at risk to travel cross-country at this time .. My clients hope the Supreme Court and the federal government will respect their right to be present at the execution and delay it until travel is safe enough to make that possible, » Baker Kurrus, attorney for Earlene Branch Peterson, Kimma Gurel and Monica Veillette said.
Then, the revelation came that a Bureau of Prisons staff member at the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute, in Indiana, where Lee was to be executed, tested positive for COVID-19. Court documents say that this staff member attended some meetings on the execution, but BOP says that he did not go into the execution chamber or come into contact with the execution team.
BOP told ABC News that prior to the executions they will not be providing the public with any details, but that they will try to practice social distancing. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, temperature checks will be required (100.4 or higher will not be permitted), face masks will be issued upon arrival to the complex and participants will be required to wear it throughout the entire process. Any violation of this order will be subject to immediate removal from the premises. Additionally, to the extent practical, social distancing of 6 feet should be exercised. Prior to the execution, we will not be providing details regarding internal procedures,” a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson told ABC News.
Should the execution, scheduled for 4:00 PM Monday, take place, this will be the first time in 17 years that the death penalty will have been used at a federal level. The executions are scheduled to take place at Terre Haute over the next four days.
Louis Jones was the last federal inmate to be put to death, in 2003, for kidnapping and murdering a young female solider in 1995. More notably, Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, was put to death in 2001, and his execution was watched and attended by over 200 people.
Last month, the Supreme Court denied a challenge from the four death row inmates: Lee, Wesley Ira Purkey, Dustin Lee Honken and Keith Dwayne Nelson. All four committed violent crimes against children, the Justice Department said.
Lee, along with Chevie Kehoe, killed the Mueller family, including an 8-year-old, in Tilly, Arkansas. While Kehoe was the primary suspect, he was not sentenced to death, and instead is serving life in prison without parole.
According to court documents, the Justice Department directed Lee to be sentenced to death after prosecutors at the state level initially wanted to seek the same charges for Lee as Kehoe.
