U.S. carries out first federal execution in 17 years
WASHINGTON — The United States on Tuesday carried out the first federal execution in 17 years, after a series of legal battles that ended in the Supreme Court clearing the way for the administration to revive capital punishment by the federal government.
Daniel Lewis Lee, a white supremacist who was convicted of murdering a family of three in the 1990s, was put to death by lethal injection in Indiana, the Department of Justice said in a press release.
The execution was due to take place on Monday, but was delayed by a U.S. District Court judge to allow death row inmates to continue legal challenges against the new lethal injection protocol announced by the government last year.
The Supreme Court then overturned the halt in a late-night order.
The victims’ relatives had earlier attempted to delay the execution, citing concerns that they would be exposed to the coronavirus if they attended, though that halt was overturned by a federal appeals court.
“Today, Lee finally faced the justice he deserved,” Attorney General William Barr said in a statement. “The American people have made the considered choice to permit capital punishment for the most egregious federal crimes, and justice was done today in implementing the sentence for Lee’s horrific offenses.”
The decision to go ahead with the execution — the first at a federal level since 2003 — has been criticized as a political move, with civil rights activists expressing concern about cases being rushed.
Three more federal executions are scheduled in the next few weeks.
Barr last summer announced he was bringing back the death penalty, of which President Donald Trump has been a longtime vocal advocate.
U.S. states individually decide whether to use capital punishment in their criminal justice systems. The federal system is separate to those of the 50 states and other jurisdictions.
Some 20 states have banned the death penalty, while others have not carried out executions in decades.