US carries out the 1st federal execution in nearly 2 decades

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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The U.S. government on Tuesday carried out the first federal execution in almost two decades, putting to death a man who killed an Arkansas family in a 1990s in a plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. The execution came over the objection of the victims’ family.

Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, of Yukon, Oklahoma, died by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. The decision to move forward with the execution -- the first by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 -- drew scrutiny from civil rights groups and the relatives of Lee’s victims, who had sued to try to halt it, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2020/07/14/us-carries-out-the-1st-federal-execution-in-nearly-2-decades/24560430/

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And this happens when the death penalty in on decline thorough the country. Furthermore, what I find especially telling regarding the changing attitudes, is that pretty much all of this year's Democratic candidates declared opposition to the capital punishment, including, of all people, Biden (we all know his Senate record). I think only Bullock voiced support, with Ryan taking moderate hero position "moratorium for now".

I can understand arguments in favor of the death penalty made from retributive positions (though obviously I strongly disagree with them), but anybody who still claims executions serves any real purpose, such as deterrence, is in denial. Another important matter is executing the innocent. While that fellow was clearly a despicable POS, there were innocent people (or people whose guilt was in doubt) put to death since 1976, even if states don't want to admit this. Jesse Tafero in Florida or Carlos De Luna in Texas are just two of them. In the ideal world death penalty would be reserved for "worst of the worst", but in reality its' imposition is still arbitrary, capricious and presenting a real possibility of committing "irreversible errors". No matter how much you want to eliminate these problems (as states tried following the Furman v. Georgia rule), it'll never work, because we don't live in an ideal world.

I tend to agree with Justice Blackmun's opinion near the end of his tenure. He stated that while the death penalty may be perfectly constitutional in theory (see the language in the 5th Amendment), its' imposition can't meet the standards of due process in practice.

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It's interesting the victim's mother supported the sentence being commuted, stating "I can’t see how executing Daniel Lee will honor my daughter in any way. In fact, it’s kinda like it dirties her name. Because she wouldn’t want it and I don’t want it."

Another interesting thing is that the U.S. Attorney in charge of prosecuting the guy didn't want to seek a death sentence, but was ordered to do so by then-Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder.

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So far this year we've had three federal executions (carried out within a span of four days) versus 7 carried out by the states (AL, GA, MO, TN and TX, the usual suspects).

And there's another one scheduled to happen tonight.

Due to COVID, this year is on pace to be a record low number of executions in the US (on pace for 15, lowest since 1988), but 4 would be by the federal government, compared to 0 every year since 2003.

Next guy Dustin Honken is perhaps most notable as he's from Iowa, which doesn't have a state death penalty. It'll be the first execution for an Iowa crime since 1963.

Interestingly that was also the very last federal execution until 2001.

Still glad executions will almost certainly halt under a Biden DoJ.

I think Biden DoJ would follow a similar path regarding the death penalty as Obama DoJ: keep them on death row, but not push for actual executions.

At least Biden actually declared himself to be opposed to the death penalty, unlike Obama.