After a 17-year moratorium on federal executions, the Trump administration resumed last July. According to the Associated Press, on January 16, local time, the Trump administration executed the last execution in its term of office - 48-year-old black man Dustin Higgs was pronounced dead at 1:23 a.m.
With just five days to go before the new president Biden, who opposes the death penalty, takes office, the Trump administration almost "rushed" to carry out the 13th execution. So far, the United States has carried out more executions during Trump's presidency than in the previous 56 years combined. France24, the French media, pointed out that in more than 120 years, no U.S. president has overseen so many federal death penalties.
Screenshot of the Associated Press report
According to Reuters reported on the 16th, in 1996, Higgs "instructed" his companions to kidnap and murder three women in a federal wildlife sanctuary in Maryland, and was sentenced to death in 2001. But in the Associated Press report, Higgs mentioned the victim's name in the final narrative, calling himself "I am an innocent person, I did not order the killing." ”
The federal judge who presided over the Higgs trial 20 years ago said he "did not deserve sympathy," and U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte wrote in a Dec. 29 ruling that "he was tried fairly, and his jury unanimously found him guilty of a despicable crime and sentenced to death." ”
Higgs's lawyer, Shawn Nolan, argued that Higgs's companions were exempt from the death penalty as "shooters" and that it was "arbitrary and unfair" to execute Higgs on the death penalty.
Dustin Higgs From The Associated Press
"The government completed an unprecedented killing of 13 people on the night of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday by killing Higgs, a black man who had never killed anyone," Nolan said, "and there was no reason to kill him, especially if he was infected with the coronavirus, and the reason he was infected was because of these irresponsible spreaders during the execution." ”
Last December, Higgs and another death row inmate, Corey Johnson, were diagnosed with the coronavirus. According to Bill Breeden, Johnson's spiritual adviser, U.S. officials who shared johnson's room did not wear masks "for at least several minutes" and violated the "mask requirements" set to protect against the outbreak.
Because Higgs and Johnson were infected with the new crown, Nolan helped the two apply for a "moratorium on death" in the hope that they would recover from the new crown pneumonia first. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also asked judges to rule that the Prison Service violated the "mask requirement," flouted court, and ordered an end to Higgs' executions. But the prison bureau responded that the "mask requirement" was not clearly defined and that it was necessary for officials to remove or not wear masks for "clear communication."
On the 13th, the US Supreme Court rejected the application for a "suspension of the death penalty". On the 14th, Johnson was executed. On the 16th, Higgs was executed.
Nolan said, "In the midst of the flu and everything that is happening in the country, it is crazy to continue to carry out these death sentences." ”
In addition, the Trump administration's execution of prisoners during the presidential transition period has also aroused questions from the outside world. According to the U.S. Death Penalty Information Center, the U.S. government has never executed federal prisoners during the presidential transition since the end of President Grover Cleveland's presidency in the late 19th century. Robert Dunham, executive director of the U.S. Death Penalty Information Center, has said that federal executions are highly unusual during the transition period, and the president of the United States usually postpones the executions until after the new government takes office. He argues that the Trump administration's actions are "contrary to American convention."
The Associated Press said that since 2020, the number of federal death sentences executed during trump's administration has reached 13, more than in the past 56 years combined. Biden's campaign, on the other hand, has promised to pass legislation to abolish the death penalty at the federal level and encourage states to follow suit.
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