The United States hadn’t put anyone to death in 17 years. Then, former President Donald Trump’s administration resumed federal executions last year, beginning a spree of capital punishment cases coming to conclusion at the tail end of his presidency.
Thirteen people were put to death, all of whom in Indiana – where the country’s only federal execution chamber remains. The chamber hadn’t been used since 2003.
Attorney General Merrick Garland this month announced a halt to federal executions while officials review death penalty policies set in place by the previous administration.
From July: Attorney General Merrick Garland orders halt to federal executions
Here are the names and cases of the prisoners put to death after the United States resumed the federal death penalty in mid-2020.
Daniel Lewis Lee
Executed: July 14, 2020
Charge: Three counts of murder in aid of racketeering
Time on death row: 21 years
Age at death: 47
Summary: A jury declared Lee, a member of a white supremacist group, guilty of murdering a family of three in January 1996 in Arkansas. During the trial, prosecutors said Lee and another member of the white supremacist group stole guns and $50,000 in cash from the Mueller family, according to the Associated Press. The duo then used stun guns on the family, duct taped trash bags over their heads and taped rocks to their bodies before dumping them in the swamp.
Wesley Ira Purkey
Executed: July 16, 2020
Charge: Federal kidnapping resulting in the child’s death
Time on death row: 16 years
Age at death: 68
Summary: The Kansas man was found guilty of the 1998 rape and murder of 16-year-old Jennifer Long, of Missouri. Prosecutors said he dismembered her, then burned and dumped the girl’s body in a septic pond. In state court, Purkey was convicted for the death of another woman — 80-year-old Mary Ruth Bales, who was bludgeoned to death with a claw hammer the same year as Long’s murder.
Dustin Lee Honken
Executed: July 17, 2020
Charge: Five counts of murder during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise
Time on death row: 16 years
Age at death: 52
Summary: Honken was convicted in 2004 for the shooting deaths of five people in Iowa, including a single mother and her two daughters – ages 10 and 6. Honken, described as a meth kingpin by the Department of Justice, also fatally shot two men he believed would testify against him.
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Lezmond Charles Mitchell
Executed: Aug. 26, 2020
Charge: First degree murder, felony murder and carjacking resulting in murder
Time on death row: 17 years
Age at death: 38
Summary: Mitchell was found guilty for the murder of 63-year-old Alyce Slim and her 9-year-old granddaughter Tiffany Lee as part of a carjacking in Arizona. Prosecutors said Mitchell and an accomplice stabbed Slim 33 times after getting a ride from her, then threw her body in the backseat. Mitchell…
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