Barr orders execution dates for four convicted child murderers....

[IceWizard]

Barr orders execution dates 
for four convicted child murderers, 
after two-decade hiatus



Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered the scheduling 
of executions for four death-row inmates convicted of murdering 
and, in two cases, raping children -- in what would be the first 
federal executions since 2003.

“The American people, acting through Congress and Presidents 
of both political parties, have long instructed that defendants 
convicted of the most heinous crimes should be subject to a 
sentence of death,” Barr said in a statement.

“The four murderers whose executions are scheduled today 
have received full and fair proceedings under our Constitution 
and laws,” he said. “We owe it to the victims of these horrific 
crimes, and to the families left behind, to carry forward the 
sentence imposed by our justice system.”

Barr had directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) last 
year to resume executions, which would end an informal 
moratorium on federal executions which had been in place 
since 2003 -- when Louis Jones was executed for the kidnapping, 
rape and murder of a female soldier.

A district court issued a preliminary injunction preventing BOP 
from carrying out the executions, but the U.S. Court of Appeals 
vacated the injunction in April, clearing the way for the 
executions to continue. Barr on Monday ordered the BOP to 
schedule the executions.


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The inmates scheduled for execution are:

Daniel Lewis Lee, a former member of a white supremacist 

group who was convicted of murdering a family of three, 
including an 8-year-old girl. After robbing and shooting them 
with a stun gun, he covered their heads with plastic bags, 
sealed them with duct tape and threw them into a bayou;

Wesley Ira Purkey, who was convicted or raping and murdering 
a 16-year-old, and murdered an 80-year-old woman with a 
claw hammer;

Keith Dwayne Nelson, who kidnapped a 10-year-old girl rollerblading 
in front of her home, and raped and strangled her to death with a wire;

Dustin Lee Honken, who shot and killed five people -- including 

a mother and her 10- and 6-year-old daughters.

Three of the executions — for Lee, Purkley and Honken — are 
scheduled days apart beginning July 13. Nelson's execution is 
scheduled for Aug. 28. The inmates’ lawyers are urging the 
Supreme Court to intervene.



Lee’s legal team has said the government relied on 
“junk science and false evidence” in his case, while Purkey’s 
lawyer told The Associated Press that her client suffers from 
schizophrenia, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. 
Honken’s attorney said that the trial and sentencing were 
“plagued by misconduct and the ineffectiveness of counsel.”




The Justice Department said additional executions 
will be set at a later date.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.