Five execution dates were announced by Barr for five inmates convicted of murder, starting with Daniel Lewis Lee, a member of a white supremacist group, who murdered a family of three in Arkansas, and was found guilty in May of 1999.
"The Justice Department upholds the rule of law—and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system," Barr added.
The last federal execution took place in 2003.
Federal Government to Resume Capital Punishment After Nearly Two Decade Lapse https://t.co/GcVD08VOw8
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) July 25, 2019
DOJ announced that the federal government is going to resume capital punishment, and AG Bill Bar has directed the Bureau of Prisons to schedule executions for five death-row inmates pic.twitter.com/7usR1jX2IG
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) July 25, 2019
One of the men the federal government wants to put to death -- Daniel Lewis Lee -- was sent to death row for killing 3 people in Tilly, Ark in 1999.
— John Moritz (@JohnMoritz18) July 25, 2019
At the time, Lee was in the middle of a cross-country crime spree. https://t.co/JQ4eJv7isl
Five different inmates are now scheduled for executions in December and early January, at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, as the Justice Department noted that all five have “exhausted their appellate and post-conviction remedies, and currently no legal impediments prevent their executions.”
Thursday's announcement said the inmates would be put to death using a single lethal injection drug - pentobarbital - which the feds say has been used by 14 states in recent years for executions.
For reference, here's where the country stands on the state level re: the death penalty pic.twitter.com/E0fjjr1LI8
— Meghan Keneally (@mkeneally) July 25, 2019
The move drew immediate opposition.
“Too many innocent people have been put to death,” said Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA). “We need a national moratorium on the death penalty, not a resurrection.”
“There’s enough violence in the world. The government shouldn’t add to it,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). “When I am president, we will abolish the death penalty.”
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