Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Judge Temporarily Stops 1st Federal Executions Since 2003
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
November 21, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — A judge has temporarily halted the first federal executions in 16 years as a lawsuit on how the government intends to carry them out continues.

“It is greatly served by attempting to ensure that the most serious punishment is imposed lawfully.” — U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan
U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan said in a Wednesday evening ruling that the public is not served by “short-circuiting” legitimate judicial process.
“It is greatly served by attempting to ensure that the most serious punishment is imposed lawfully,” she wrote.
Attorney General William Barr unexpectedly announced in July that the government would resume executions on Dec. 9, ending an informal moratorium on federal capital punishment as the issue receded from the public domain.
The Justice Department didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment on Thursday on whether it would appeal, and the attorney general was traveling.
Some of the chosen convicts challenged the new procedures in court, arguing that the government was circumventing proper methods to wrongly execute inmates quickly.

Most Democrats Oppose the Death Penalty

“This decision prevents the government from evading accountability and making an end-run around the courts by attempting to execute prisoners under a protocol that has never been authorized by Congress,” said the convicts’ attorney, Shawn Nolan. “The court has made clear that no execution should go forward while there are still so many unanswered questions about the government’s newly announced execution method.”
The judge’s ruling temporarily postpones four of the five scheduled executions beginning next month; the fifth had already been halted. It’s possible the government could appeal and win in time to begin executions Dec. 9, but that would be an unusually fast turnaround.
Most Democrats oppose the death penalty. By contrast, President Donald Trump has spoken often about capital punishment and his belief that executions serve as an effective deterrent and an appropriate punishment for some crimes, including mass shootings and the killings of police officers.
Still, executions on the federal level have been rare. The government has put to death only three defendants since restoring the federal death penalty in 1988, most recently in 2003, when Louis Jones was executed for the 1995 kidnapping, rape and murder of a young female soldier.

The Death Penalty Remains Legal in 30 States

In 2014, following a botched state execution in Oklahoma, President Barack Obama directed the Justice Department to conduct a broad review of capital punishment and issues surrounding lethal injection drugs.

The death penalty remains legal in 30 states, but only a handful regularly conduct executions. Texas has executed 108 prisoners since 2010, far more than any other state.
Barr said in July that the Obama-era review had been completed, clearing the way for executions to resume.
He approved a new procedure for lethal injections that replaces the three-drug combination previously used in federal executions with one drug, pentobarbital. This is similar to the procedure used in several states, including Georgia, Missouri and Texas.
Danny Lee, of Yukon, Oklahoma, was the first person scheduled to be executed. Lee was convicted in the 1996 deaths of an Arkansas family as part of a plot to set up a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest.
The death penalty remains legal in 30 states, but only a handful regularly conduct executions. Texas has executed 108 prisoners since 2010, far more than any other state.
Though there hasn’t been a federal execution since 2003, the Justice Department has continued to approve death penalty prosecutions, and federal courts have sentenced defendants to death.

DON'T MISS

Senate Rebukes Trump’s Tariffs as Some Republicans Vote to Halt Taxes on Canadian Imports

DON'T MISS

Supreme Court Sides With the FDA in Its Dispute Over Sweet-Flavored Vaping Products

DON'T MISS

Trump Announces Sweeping New Tariffs to Promote US Manufacturing, Risking Inflation and Trade Wars

DON'T MISS

Fresno Firefighters Save Dog From Canal and Now She’s Ready for Adoption

DON'T MISS

Big Brands Spend Just Enough on X to Avoid Musk’s ‘Naughty List’

DON'T MISS

Judge Dismisses Corruption Case Against New York City Mayor Eric Adams

DON'T MISS

State Center Trustees Render Split Decision on Future of PLAs

DON'T MISS

California’s Schools Chief Has a $200,000 Salary and a Side Gig

DON'T MISS

Why Project Labor Agreements Are Good for Our Schools and Students: Opinion

DON'T MISS

Trump Proposes Tax Deduction for Auto Loan Interest on US-Made Cars

UP NEXT

Western US Sees Sharp Increase in Extreme Weather Impact

UP NEXT

7-Year-Old Girl Was Killed by a Falling Boulder at a Lake Tahoe Ski Resort

UP NEXT

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

UP NEXT

Lakers Hold Off Rockets With 6 3-Pointers Apiece From Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent

UP NEXT

Athletics Bat Boy Stewart Thalblum Takes Down Drone in Left Field

UP NEXT

NFL Postpones Tush Push Decision but Passes Other Rule Changes, AP Source Says

UP NEXT

March Madness: It’s South Carolina vs. Texas and UCLA vs. UConn in Women’s Final Four

UP NEXT

Major Layoffs Begin at Health Agencies That Track Disease and Regulate Food

UP NEXT

U.S. Bank Executive Terry Dolan Dies in Plane Crash Near Minneapolis

UP NEXT

Top Vaccine Official Resigns From FDA, Criticizes RFK Jr. for Promoting Misinformation, Lies

Fresno Firefighters Save Dog From Canal and Now She’s Ready for Adoption

5 hours ago

Big Brands Spend Just Enough on X to Avoid Musk’s ‘Naughty List’

5 hours ago

Judge Dismisses Corruption Case Against New York City Mayor Eric Adams

6 hours ago

State Center Trustees Render Split Decision on Future of PLAs

6 hours ago

California’s Schools Chief Has a $200,000 Salary and a Side Gig

6 hours ago

Why Project Labor Agreements Are Good for Our Schools and Students: Opinion

7 hours ago

Trump Proposes Tax Deduction for Auto Loan Interest on US-Made Cars

7 hours ago

Western US Sees Sharp Increase in Extreme Weather Impact

7 hours ago

Amazon Said to Make a Bid to Buy TikTok in the US

7 hours ago

Fresno Man Found Dead, Coroner’s Office Seeks Help Finding Family

7 hours ago

Senate Rebukes Trump’s Tariffs as Some Republicans Vote to Halt Taxes on Canadian Imports

WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a resolution Wednesday night that would thwart President Donald Trump’s ability to impose tariffs on Canada, ...

16 minutes ago

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., center, is joined from left by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., as they speak to reporters about President Donald Trump's tariffs on foreign countries, at the Capitol, in Washington, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
16 minutes ago

Senate Rebukes Trump’s Tariffs as Some Republicans Vote to Halt Taxes on Canadian Imports

4 hours ago

Supreme Court Sides With the FDA in Its Dispute Over Sweet-Flavored Vaping Products

4 hours ago

Trump Announces Sweeping New Tariffs to Promote US Manufacturing, Risking Inflation and Trade Wars

A young Labrador mix rescued from a Fresno canal on Sunday, March 2, 2025, is thriving in a foster home after overcoming fear and trauma. (Instagram/Fresno Animal Center)
5 hours ago

Fresno Firefighters Save Dog From Canal and Now She’s Ready for Adoption

5 hours ago

Big Brands Spend Just Enough on X to Avoid Musk’s ‘Naughty List’

6 hours ago

Judge Dismisses Corruption Case Against New York City Mayor Eric Adams

6 hours ago

State Center Trustees Render Split Decision on Future of PLAs

6 hours ago

California’s Schools Chief Has a $200,000 Salary and a Side Gig

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend