The Trump administration on Tuesday morning carried out the first federal execution since 2003, following a series of court battles and a Supreme Court order, released shortly after 2 a.m., clearing the way for the lethal injection to take place.
Federal officials executed Daniel Lewis Lee, who was convicted in 1999 of killing a family of three, at a penitentiary in Indiana. Lee was pronounced dead Tuesday morning at 8:07 a.m.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life but I’m not a murderer,” Lee said when asked if he wanted to make a final statement. “You’re killing an innocent man,” he said.
While the death penalty has been in nationwide decline for years, with executions and death sentences both down significantly, the Justice Department has publicly pushed against that trend for nearly a year. The department has argued in court and in public statements that it needed to carry out lawful sentences, citing the gravity of the crimes involved.
Last year, the department laid out a new lethal injection protocol — using one drug, pentobarbital — and said it would begin carrying out executions, leading to extended legal challenges. Attorney General William P. Barr had said recently that officials “owe it to the victims of these horrific crimes, and to the families left behind.”
On Monday, Lee’s execution — originally scheduled for 4 p.m. that afternoon — was left on hold following a judge’s order that he and other death-row inmates could pursue their court case arguing that the new lethal-injection protocol is unconstitutional.
An appeals court said late Monday it would not let the executions take place as planned, but a divided Supreme Court weighed in overnight saying they could proceed.
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As a personal note:
I am against the death penalty on principle, but how do YOU feel about the death penalty?
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