![]() On Monday, Senate Democrats unveiled legislation that would abolish it. The executions come days before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who has opposed the federal death penalty. ![]() She was the only woman on federal death row and the first female prisoner to be put to death by the U.S. ![]() Lisa Montgomery was executed early Wednesday. Life Inside Perspectives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system. They were all friends of mine who became casualties of the Trump administration’s execution spree shortly before he left office. He had also contracted COVID-19 while in prison, and his attorney argued that executing him following the infection would have been "cruel and unusual punishment." Next came Orlando Hall, followed by Brandon Bernard, Corey Johnson and Dustin Higgs. Higgs was one of three people executed by the federal government this week.Ĭorey Johnson, 52, was executed Thursday night. Higgs had told the court that carrying out the sentence after his COVID-19 infection would be cruel because the resulting lung damage would cause a lethal injection of pentobarbital to give him the sensation of drowning. "There was no reason to kill him, particularly during the pandemic and when he, himself, was sick with COVID that he contracted because of these irresponsible, superspreader executions," Nolan added. In a statement following the execution, Shawn Nolan, an attorney for Higgs, called him "a fine man, a terrific father, brother, and nephew" who "spent decades on death row in solitary confinement helping others around him, while working tirelessly to fight his unjust convictions." Higgs was executed at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., and was pronounced dead at 1:23 a.m., according to The Associated Press. The killings took place in the Patuxent Research Refuge, which is near Laurel, Md., but considered federal land, thus giving the federal government jurisdiction. Higgs was found guilty in 2000 of multiple federal offenses including first-degree premeditated murder, three counts of first-degree felony murder, and three counts of kidnapping resulting in death. ![]() Haynes pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. Willis Haynes actually pulled the trigger. Higgs, along with two other men, killed three women in 1996. earlier this week ruled both Johnson and Dustin Higgs, initially slated to die on Friday, would be allowed to live until at least March so that they can recover. Justice Sonia Sotomayor called it an "unprecedented rush," saying that "after waiting almost two decades to resume federal executions, the Government should have proceeded with some measure of restraint to ensure it did so lawfully." The Supreme Court declined to stop the execution, although some justices dissented, noting that before the first of the 13, it had been 17 years since a federal execution had been carried out. government has executed Dustin Higgs, the last prisoner to be executed during the Trump administration, and the 13 th in the span of six months. The legal team for Corey Johnson, who was convicted for killing seven people in 1992 as a part of a drug trade in Virginia, announced Friday that he had tested positive for Covid-19, a day after it. ![]()
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