Court blocks COVID pause on federal execution

A federal appeals court ruled Sunday that the first federal execution in nearly two decades can proceed as scheduled on Monday.

The ruling from the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, overturns a lower court order that had put the execution of 47-yearold Daniel Lewis Lee on hold.

Lee, of Yukon, Okla., had been scheduled to die by lethal injection on Monday at a federal prison in Indiana. He was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife

Nancy and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell.

Chief District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled Friday in Indiana that the execution would be put on hold because of concerns from the family of the victims about the coronavirus pandemic, which is ravaging prisons nationwide.

The Justice Department argued that the judge’s order misconstrued the law and asked the appeals court to overturn the ruling. The appeals court found the claim from the victims’ family “lacks any arguable legal basis and is therefore frivolous.”

Justice officials said Sunday a staff member involved in preparing for the execution had tested positive for coronavirus. But they said the development would not mean an additional delay because the worker had not been in the execution chamber and had not come into contact with anyone on the team sent to handle the execution.

The family members, who have long asked that Lee be given a life sentence instead of being executed, will appeal to the Supreme Court.