The US Supreme Court gave the green light on Thursday to the execution of a man sentenced to death for a federal crime, after the failure of multiple appeals from his lawyers citing his mental state. The Supreme Court ruling means that 68-year-old Wesley Purkey is expected to be the second federal convict to be executed this week, after Daniel Lee on Tuesday.
Read also: The Lincoln Project, a haven for anti-Trump Republicans
The government of President Donald Trump, a supporter of the increased use of capital punishment in the United States, has resumed federal executions after 17 years of interruption. Two other executions are planned within the federal framework, one on Friday and the other on August 28. Wesley Purkey was convicted in 2003 of raping and killing a 16-year-old girl, before dismembering and burning her body, then throwing the ashes into a septic tank.
" Inhuman " punishment
His execution, originally scheduled for Wednesday at Terre Haute prison in Indian (North) where Daniel Lee was executed, was delayed by multiple legal remedies from his lawyers and relatives, claiming that the punishment was " inhuman " for a man with Alzheimer's disease who suffers from schizophrenia.
" The request to stay the execution of the death sentence (...) is rejected ", according to the decision of the Supreme Court which invalidates a judgment pronounced the day before by a district court which suspended the execution. Four of the nine judges of the Court, however, disagreed with this decision.
Read also: For the first time in 17 years, the United States is preparing a federal execution
Justice Minister Bill Barr announced last year the end of the federal executions moratorium, in effect since 2003, echoing the will of Donald Trump. The Republican billionaire, who will run for a second term on November 3, is a staunch supporter of capital punishment, particularly for police killers or drug traffickers.
Most crimes committed in the United States are tried at the state level, some of which carry the death penalty, but the federal courts can deal with the most serious acts. Before Daniel Lee, only three people had been executed at the federal level since 1974, including Timothy McVeigh, responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing (168 dead in 1995) in 2001.