Killer on federal death row executed
Navajo Nation tried to get sentence commuted
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The only Native American on federal death row was put to death Wednesday, despite objections from Navajo leaders who had urged President Donald Trump to halt the execution, saying it would violate tribal culture and sovereignty.
With the execution of Lezmond Mitchell for the grisly slayings of 9-year-old Tiffany Lee and her grandmother, the federal government under the pro-death penalty president has now carried out more executions in 2020 than in the previous 56 years combined.
Asked by a prison official if he had any last words for the victims’ family and other witnesses behind glass at the death chamber, Mitchell casually responded, “No, I’m good.”
Moments later, prison officials began the lethal injection of pentobarbital inside the small, pale-green death chamber at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Mitchell lay flat on his back, his glasses on and a medical mask across his face as the lethal drug flowed to IVs in his hands and forearms. His chest heaved and his thumb tapped the gurney as his breathing appeared more labored and his stomach area began to throb. About 10 minutes later, Mitchell no longer appeared to move and his partially tattooed hands turned pale.
An official with a stethoscope checked for a pulse and listened to Mitchell’s heart before he was declared dead at 6:29 p.m. EDT.
Mitchell, 38, and an accomplice were convicted of killing Tiffany and 63-year-old Alyce Slim after the grandmother offered them a lift as they hitchhiked on the Navajo Nation in 2001. They stabbed Slim 33 times, slit Tiffany’s throat and stoned her to death. They later mutilated both bodies.
A bid by tribal leaders to persuade Trump to commute Mitchell’s sentence to life in prison failed, as did last-minute appeals by his lawyers for a stay. The first three federal executions in 17 years went ahead in July after similar legal maneuvers failed. Keith Nelson, who was also convicted of killing a child, is slated to die Friday.
“Nearly 19 years after Lezmond Mitchell brutally ended the lives of two people, destroying the lives of many others, justice finally has been served,” Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec said in a statement.
Critics accuse the Trump administration of pushing to resume executions after a nearly 20-year hiatus in a bid to claim the mantle of law-andorder candidate. Mitchell’s execution occurred during the GOP’s convention week.