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AFP
Lee killed a family of three before dumping their bodies in a lake
The first federal execution in the United States in more than 17 years will take place in Indiana on Monday after a ruling by an appeals court.
Daniel Lewis Lee and an accomplice were convicted of killing three members of the same family in 1996.
Some of the victims’ families opposed her execution and tried to delay it, claiming that attending could expose them to the coronavirus.
But the failure means that execution by lethal injection will now proceed.
The appeals court reversed a lower court decision that suspended the execution of Lee, 47, saying that no federal statute or regulation gave victims the right to attend the execution.
In its ruling, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said the family’s claim “lacks any questionable legal basis and is therefore frivolous.”
The next of kin will appeal to the Supreme Court. It will have to act before 16:00 local time on Monday (20:00 GMT) to stop the execution, the New York Times reports.
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Lee, who tortured and killed a family of three before dumping their bodies in a lake, was originally scheduled for execution in December. His case was delayed after the courts blocked the execution of the death sentence.
Earlene Peterson, 81, whose daughter, granddaughter, and son-in-law were killed by Lee, has opposed the execution.
Instead, he says he wants Lee to be brought to life in prison, the same sentence as Lee’s accomplice.
“Yes, Daniel Lee damaged my life, but I cannot believe that taking his life would change any of that,” Ms. Peterson said in a video statement last year.
Lee’s planned execution is one of four scheduled for July and August. All four men are convicted of killing children.
Why the change in the rules on executions?
The Trump administration said it would resume federal executions after a long hiatus last year.
In a statement at the time, Attorney General William Barr said: “Under the administrations of both parties, the Justice Department has sought the death penalty against the worst criminals.”
“The Justice Department defends the rule of law and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry out the sentence imposed by our justice system.”
The move has been criticized as a political decision, and activists also expressed concern about the rushed cases.
The last inmate executed for the federal death penalty was Louis Jones Jr, a 53-year-old Gulf War veteran who murdered 19-year-old soldier Tracie Joy McBride.
Federal and state executions: what’s the difference?
Under the United States justice system, crimes can be tried in federal courts, nationally, or in state courts, regionally.
Certain crimes, such as counterfeiting or mail theft, are automatically tried at the federal level, such as cases in which the United States is a party or those involving constitutional violations. Others may be tried in federal courts based on the severity of the crimes.
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The death penalty was banned at the state and federal levels by a 1972 Supreme Court decision that canceled all existing death penalty statutes.
A 1976 Supreme Court decision allowed states to reinstate the death penalty, and in 1988 the government passed legislation that made it available again at the federal level.
According to data compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center, 78 people were sentenced to death in federal cases between 1988 and 2018, but only three have been executed. There are 62 inmates currently on federal death row.
