US Supreme Court paves way for first executions of federal prisoners in 17 years
Prisons bureau had prepared to carry-out execution on Tuesday morning
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Your support makes all the difference.The US government can proceed with prisoner executions for the first time in almost two decades due to a Supreme Court decision.
The court on Tuesday overturned a Washington district court injunction placed against the justice department, which planned to execute triple murderer Daniel Lewis Lee on Monday.
Lee, from Yukon, Oklahoma, was convicted with murdering William Mueller, his wife Nancy, and her eight-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell, in 1996.
Washington district court judge Chutkan said on Monday that inmates had presented evidence to show how their executions would constitute "cruel and unusual punishments".
The inmates also named alternatives which included opioids or anti-anxiety drugs at the start of the procedure or firing squad, she said.
“The scientific evidence before the court overwhelmingly indicates that the 2019 Protocol is very likely to cause Plaintiffs extreme pain and needless suffering during their executions,” wrote Ms Chutkan.
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 that the prisoners’s "executions may proceed as planned".
Lee's execution was due to take place around 4am local time on Tuesday, according to court papers and The Associated Press.
The Bureau of Prisons continued with preparations even as lower courts paused the proceedings.
When the Trump administration announced last year that executions would resume, Attorney General William Barr said: "The justice department upholds the rule of law - and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system."
Tuesday’s decision to proceed with executions during the Covid-19 pandemic attracted widespread criticism.
The Supreme Court overturned claims that family members risked contracting coronavirus by attending the execution, because that was not guaranteed under federal law.
The federal government has put this family in the untenable position of choosing between their right to witness Danny Lee's execution and their own health and safety," said Baker Kurrus, the family's attorney, on Monday.
Two more executions are scheduled this week and another in August, although one was on hold due to another legal challenge.
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