U.S. appeals court says first federal execution in 17 years can proceed
Monday
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[July 13, 2020]
(Reuters) - The first federal
execution in 17 years is set to go ahead on Monday after a U.S. appeals
court overturned a lower court injunction, saying a lawsuit by the
victims' family that had put the execution on hold had no legal
standing.
Daniel Lewis Lee was convicted in the killing of three members of an
Arkansas family in 1996. But some relatives of his victims opposed him
receiving the death sentence. He is due to be put to death by lethal
injection at the U.S. Justice Department's execution chamber in Terre
Haute, Indiana.
His execution had been blocked on Friday by a federal judge after some
of the victims' relatives sued, saying they feared that attending could
expose them to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel
coronavirus.
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As the number of coronavirus infections rises in about 40 states, the
Bureau of Prisons said on Sunday that a staff member involved in
preparations for the resumption of federal executions had tested
positive for COVID-19.
The lawsuit filed against the Justice Department in federal court in
Indianapolis sought to block the execution until the pandemic had
passed. U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ordered the department
to delay the execution until it could show it was upholding the
plaintiffs' right to attend the execution without risking their health.
The government appealed and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on
Sunday overturned the injunction, saying no federal statute or
regulation gave the victims the right to attend the execution.
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![](../images/071320pics/news_h15.jpg)
A correction officer keeps watch from a tower at The Federal
Corrections Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S., May 22, 2019.
REUTERS/Bryan Woolston/File Photo
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Attorney General William Barr said last July that the Justice
Department would resume carrying out executions of some of the 62
inmates on federal death row.
He originally scheduled five executions for last December, but had
to delay them while long-running lawsuits challenging the
government's lethal-injection protocol played out.
An appeals court overturned that injunction in April, and Barr
announced new execution dates for July and August of four inmates,
all men convicted of murdering children: Lee, Wesley Purkey, Dustin
Honken and Keith Nelson.
Prosecutors say Lee was a member of a white supremacist group that
murdered an Arkansas gun dealer, his wife and 8-year-old daughter,
then dumped their bodies in a swamp. He was convicted in 1999 of
multiple offenses including murder in aid of racketeering.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by
Peter Cooney)
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