Second federal prisoner executed

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Thursday carried out the second federal execution this week, following another set of Supreme Court orders issued in the dead of night saying the lethal injection could proceed.

Federal officials in Indiana executed Wesley Purkey, 68. He was pronounced dead at 8:19 a.m., they said. Purkey was convicted in 2003 of raping and murdering 16-year-old Jennifer Long and had also killed Mary Ruth Bales, an 80-year-old woman, court records show.

Asked whether he wanted to make a statement before the lethal injection, Purkey apologized to Long’s family and his daughter, saying he “deeply” regretted the pain he caused.

Purkey’s death by injection came two days after federal authorities executed Daniel Lewis Lee, who was sentenced to death for his role in killing a family of three, at the same penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind.

Before this week, the last federal execution was in 2003. The Justice Department had pushed to resume carrying out federal death sentences since last year, adopting a new lethal-injection protocol and announcing plans to carry out a series of executions.

Purkey’s execution, like Lee’s, was carried out after the case arrived at the Supreme Court. In various cases, Purkey’s attorneys argued that he was not competent to be executed and had poor counsel in the past; he joined with other death-row inmates challenging the new lethal-injection protocol; and his spiritual adviser asked to delay the execution, citing the coronavirus pandemic.

Purkey’s execution was first planned for Wednesday afternoon, but by that morning it was blocked by three orders from two courts. The Supreme Court jettisoned one of those orders Wednesday afternoon, while two more remained pending.

In a burst of orders issued just after 2:45 a.m. Thursday, the court ruled in favor of the government in the remaining cases.

One injunction blocking Purkey’s execution — and the scheduled Friday lethal injection of Dustin Lee Honken, who was convicted of killing five people — was vacated in an unsigned order. Another stay request from Purkey was denied, as was a stay request from his and Honken’s spiritual advisers, who said the novel coronavirus made it dangerous for them to minister.

Kerri Kupec, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said in a statement that Purkey “was afforded every due process of law under our Constitution” and “has finally faced justice.”

After Purkey’s final words, the lethal drug was injected and Purkey took several deep breaths. He eventually stopped and remained motionless for several minutes before his time of death was announced.