The US Government Resumed Executions After 20 Years of Pause

After almost two decades of pause, the US federal government has restored the death penalty. In the announcement of Justice Minister William Bar, the deadlines for the first five executions are also set.

The five convicted of federal crimes have exhausted all appeals and will be killed by injecting a cocktail of substances at Terre Haute Prison in Indiana. The heaviest punishment is being executed by several states for sentencing for violation of US laws, but death sentences for federal crimes have not been implemented since 2003 with both the Democratic and the Republican administration.

"Congress has clearly resolved the death penalty by legislation approved by MPs in both chambers and signed by the President of the United States," reminds Bar, who is also Chief Prosecutor. "The Ministry of Justice applies the rule of law and we owe to the victims and their families the execution of a sentence pronounced by our justice system."

President Donald Trump has called for an increase in the number of death sentences for drug traffickers and perpetrators of the murder of many. The five people listed for the first executions in the period 9 December 2019 - 15 January 2020 have been convicted of crimes committed in particularly cruel ways, including rape of children and adults.

The first is Daniel Lewis Lee. Lee robbed and shot the victims with a stun gun, then covered their heads with plastic bags, sealed the bags with duct tape, weighed down each victim with rocks and threw the family of three into the Illinois bayou at Russellville. 

On Dec. 11, Lesmand Mitchell will be executed, who killed a 63-year-old woman with a knife, and then forced her 9-year-old granddaughter to sit down to the lifeless body,...