USA | SCOTUS denies last-minute appeal by lone Native American on federal death row

The execution of the only Native American prisoner on federal death row was all but certain Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his last-minute appeal.

Lawyers for Lezmond Mitchell, a member of the Navajo Nation who was convicted in the brutal killings of an Arizona woman and her granddaughter nearly two decades ago, had asked Justice Elena Kagan to halt his execution until President Trump and the Department of Justice had more time to consider his clemency petition.

Mitchell’s attorneys, the Navajo government and death penalty opponents have asked Trump to spare the 38-year-old’s life on the grounds his execution would violate the tribe’s sovereignty and cultural beliefs.

But the court appeared to dismiss those concerns, issuing a brief statement late Tuesday night that essentially gives the green light for the Department of Justice to execute him Wednesday evening in Indiana.

Unless the Trump administration or a lower court intervenes in the case, Mitchell will become the first Native American executed by the federal government for a crime committed on a Native American reservation.

“Although the victims’ family, the Navajo Nation, and the local United States Attorney’s Office all advocated for a life sentence, the federal government chose to single Lezmond out for a federal capital prosecution,” the July 31 clemency petition states.

“This case represents the only time in the history of the modern death penalty that the United States government has sought the death penalty over the objection of a Native American tribe when the criminal conduct in question was committed on tribal land.”

Despite initially opposing the execution, the family of the 9-year-old victim has recently sided with the government. Tiffany Lee’s father, Daniel Lee, told The Associated Press he believes in the principle of “an eye for an eye” and wants Mitchell to pay with his life.

Mitchell and his co-defendant — Johnny Orsinger, who was underage at the time and not eligible for the death penalty — stole Alyce Slim’s car in October 2011, stabbed the 63-year-old woman 33 times and forced her granddaughter to sit next to the body while they drove for miles, according to prosecutors.

The pair then slit Tiffany’s throat, crushed her head with rocks and dismembered both victims, authorities said.

Mitchell was later convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, kidnapping and carjacking resulting in death.

Under federal law, Native American tribes can decide whether members are given the death penalty if convicted of certain crimes, including murder. But the federal government found a loophole in that law and used the carjacking charge, which is not part of the agreement, to seek his execution.

Source: nydailynews.com, Nelson Oliveira, August 26, 2020

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