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AFP
Triple murderer Daniel Lewis Lee is one of those facing the death penalty.
The United States Supreme Court has cleared the way for the first executions of federal prisoners in 17 years.
Several executions were delayed after a judge ruled Monday that there were still unresolved legal challenges against the justice department.
Among those facing the death penalty is triple murderer Daniel Lewis Lee, who was due to be executed on Monday.
Convicted prisoners have argued that lethal injections constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.”
The Supreme Court voted 5-4 that “executions can proceed as planned.”
Last year, the Trump administration said it would resume federal executions.
In a statement at the time, Attorney General William Barr said: “The justice department respects the rule of law, and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry out the sentence imposed by our justice system.”
Some of the relatives of Lee’s victims oppose his execution in Indiana and have tried to delay him, arguing that attending could expose them to the coronavirus.
Earlene Peterson, 81, whose daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law were killed by Lee, said she wants 47-year-old life in prison, the same sentence as her partner.
The Trump administration’s move has been criticized as a political decision, and activists expressed concern over 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.
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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.
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 were executed. There are 62 inmates currently on federal death row.
