The United States District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday ordered a stay of execution for Cory Johnson and Dustin Higgs, both of whom were scheduled to be executed on Thursday and Friday, respectively. "The injunction will remain in effect until March 16, 2021" to allow both men to recover from COVID-19 infections.
The federal government continued its series of post-election federal executions Friday by killing Alfred Bourgeois, the second Black man killed in 24 hours by the government (article available here). Mr. Bourgeois, 56, was pronounced dead at 8:21 p.m. Eastern Standard Time at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Brandon Bernard, a 40-year-old Black man sentenced to death at aged 18, was killed on Thursday by the federal government. He was pronounced dead at 9:27 p.m. and is the youngest person executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years and the ninth prisoner put to death since the current administration resumed executions in July following a 17-year hiatus (article available here). With his last words, Bernard spoke to the family of the victims, "I'm sorry.
Lezmond Mitchell, the only Native American on federal death row is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to put his scheduled August 26, 2020 execution on hold while he seeks review of a lower court decision over potential racial bias in his case, additional information available here. Previous posts on this case are here and here.
For the second time this week, a man was executed by lethal injection inside a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Wesley Ira Purkey was strapped to a gurney inside the execution chamber. A prison official removed a mask from Purkey's face and asked him if he wanted to make a final statement. He leaned his head up slightly from the gurney and said: "I deeply regret the pain and suffering I caused to Jennifer's family. I am deeply sorry."
Wesley Ira Purkey was scheduled for execution tonight (Wednesday, July 15, 2020) at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, where Daniel Lewis Lee was put to death on Tuesday (see previous post on circumstances surrounding Mr. Lee’s execution here). The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., did not rule on whether Purkey is competent but said the Court needs to evaluate the claim.
In en banc news, the Fourth Circuit will reconsider its decision that it wasn't a "search" when law enforcement got a "geofence warrant" for cell-phone data from Google that placed the defendant with 150 meters of a bank and which led to his conviction for armed robbery. (The Training Division has some thoughts on all this too.)
A military judge on Sunday postponed a hearing to receive the guilty plea of and two other men and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks, so that prosecutors can seek again to nullify the plea deal (access full article).
A jury on Tuesday awarded $42 million to three former detainees of Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, holding Virginia-based military contractor CACI Premier Technology Inc. responsible for contributing to their torture and mistreatment two decades ago (access full article).
The three testified that they were subjected to beatings, sexual abuse, forced nudity and other cruel treatment at the prison.
What do you get when you combine a routine traffic stop with the driver's criminal history, several air fresheners in the car, driving from a job interview, and the driver's movements while looking for proof of insurance? Knoxville, Tenn. drug interdiction officer: Reasonable suspicion of drugs that justifies prolonging the stop to request a drug dog? (Which reveals an illegal gun but no drugs.) Sixth Circuit: No! And no good-faith exception. Evidence of the illegal gun should have been suppressed.