The first execution of a US federal prisoner in 17 years was due to go ahead today, despite being blocked by a judge.
Murderer Daniel Lewis Lee was set to have a lethal injection at the Justice Department’s execution chamber in Terre Haute in Indiana, but the execution was delayed after Judge Tanya Chutkan of the district court in Washington DC issued an injunction.
The Supreme Court then voted to reverse lower court rulings that blocked Lee’s execution and others. Lee, from Yukon, Oklahoma, was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her eight-year-old daughter.
He had been scheduled to receive a lethal dose of the pentobarbital yesterday afternoon, but Judge Chutkan blocked the move citing evidence showing the use of the powerful sedative alone in executions “poses an unconstitutionally significant risk of serious pain”.
Two more executions are scheduled this week. The Supreme Court today voted 5-4 that “executions may proceed as planned”.
