BFF-43 Last federal execution of Trump era looms

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BFF-43

US-JUSTICE-EXECUTIONS

Last federal execution of Trump era looms

WASHINGTON, Jan 15, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – US federal authorities were
preparing Friday for the 13th and final execution of the Trump
administration, less than a week before the White House is taken over
by Democrat Joe Biden, who opposes the death penalty.

Barring a last-minute reprieve, Dustin Higgs, a 48-year-old black
man, will receive a lethal injection in the federal penitentiary in
Terre-Haute in Indiana.

In January 1996, Higgs invited three young women to his apartment
near the capital Washington, along with two of his friends. When one
of the young women rebuffed his advances, he offered to drive them
home but instead stopped in an isolated federal nature reserve outside
the city.

According to the Department of Justice, he then ordered one of his
friends to shoot the three women. In 2000, he was sentenced to death
for kidnapping and murder. The man who pulled the trigger was
sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole.

“It is arbitrary and inequitable to punish Mr Higgs more severely
than the actual killer,” said Higgs’ lawyer Shawn Nolan, in a plea for
clemency addressed to President Donald Trump at the end of January.

But the Republican president, a staunch defender of the death
penalty, did not follow up. On the contrary, his administration fought
in court to be able to proceed with the execution before he leaves the
White House next week.

A court had ordered a stay of execution on the grounds that Higgs
contracted Covid-19 and that, with his damaged lungs, he would likely
suffer cruelly at the time of an injection of pentobarbital.

The Department of Justice immediately appealed and won the case.

A final bid to halt the execution was before the Supreme Court,
whose conservative majority — firmly established by Trump appointees
— has systematically given the green light to federal executions
since the summer.

The Trump administration resumed federal executions in July
following a 17-year hiatus, carrying them out at an unprecedented
rate.

Among the 12 people put to death since then was, for the first time
in nearly 70 years, a woman — Lisa Montgomery, executed Tuesday
despite doubts about her mental health.

At the same time, states postponed all executions to avoid
spreading the virus.

President-elect Joe Biden, who will be sworn in on Wednesday, has
vowed to work with Congress to try to abolish the death penalty at the
federal level.

Democratic lawmakers on Monday introduced a bill to that effect and
since their party has regained control of the Senate, it stands a
chance of being adopted.

BSS/AFP/MRU/2346hrs