USA | My Turn: Three federal executions and an appeal for clemency

In July, after a 16-year interval of no federal executions, the Trump Justice Department began carrying out seven executions from July 14 through Sept. 24, 2020. Three more are scheduled between Jan. 12 and Jan. 15.

Few Americans are aware of these executions, but without last-minute clemencies it is unlikely that they can be avoided. The appeals for Lisa Montgomery, Cory Johnson, and Dustin Higgs have been exhausted, even though in each of these cases there is sufficient evidence that should counter the argument that these executions are justified and appropriate (if executions are ever actually justified or appropriate).

We should actually care that these executions are about to happen in our country. However, with most Americans not knowing about these scheduled executions, let alone the specific details of each of these cases, it seems likely that they will occur on schedule, just days before a new administration is sworn in.

Furthermore, the expectation is that President Biden will institute a moratorium on federal executions so they are being rushed so they can occur before president Trump leaves office.

Each of the murders associated with these cases is horrific, as any murder of course is horrific. Nevertheless, mental health issues are involved in each of these cases, providing mitigating circumstances that were not sufficiently entered into consideration in the sentencing phases of these cases.

That is especially prominent in the case of Lisa Montgomery, who suffered a life-long history of severe mental, physical, and sexual abuse throughout her childhood. The chronic abuse clearly contributed to her severe mental illness that in turn was intimately connected to her psychotic episode of killing Bobbie Jo Stinnett by strangling her in her Missouri home in 2004 and then carving out of her abdomen an eight-month fetus, which she intended to raise as her own.

Lisa Montgomery’s history is that her stepfather and first husband repeatedly sexually abused her; she suffers from brain damage and multiple mental illnesses. She is scheduled to be executed on Jan. 12. Can her death by execution serve any legitimate state interest or in any way be warranted?

Cory Johnson was convicted in federal court in Richmond, Virginia, along with two other fellow gang members, for multiple murders of rival gang members and drug dealers. Cory Johnson however has a significant intellectual disability, yet no court has attended to the specifics of his intellectual deficiencies. This is a clear violation of the Eighth Amendment and direction of the Supreme Court (Atkins v. Virginia, June 20, 2002), but in spite of the rejection of his many appeals he is scheduled for execution on Jan. 14. Can his death by execution be consistent with the laws of our land and can it be justified?

Dustin Higgs is scheduled for execution on Jan. 15 in connection with the horrific murder of three young women. However, Dustin Higgs did not kill anyone, nor did any legitimate evidence suggest that he had any intent to kill these young women. The sole shooter was tried separately and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release. Dustin also had intellectual challenges of dyslexia and challenges in life with the death of his mother at a very early age. The jury that sentenced Dustin never heard of the significant mitigating circumstances in his case, let alone the fact that the actual shooter was given a sentence of life without parole.

Dustin has also been a model prisoner and a role model for his son. Can the disparity between the two sentences be justified and is it fair and equitable to execute Dustin Higgs on Jan. 15?

President Trump has issued pardons for many individuals who have been found guilty in federal court, including four members of the Blackwater Guard contractors convicted of mass murder in Iraq. How about issuing clemency for Lisa Montgomery, Cory Johnson, and Dustin Higgs, Mr. Trump, leaving a legacy of mercy in the final days of your presidency?

It would be something positive to remember regarding your administration.

If these cases are compelling to you, please consider writing to Mr. Trump in these few remaining days to encourage leniency for Lisa Montgomery, Cory Johnson, and Dustin Higgs.

Source: concordmonitor.com, Opinion, Leonard Korn, January 5, 2021. Dr. Leonard Korn is past president of the New Hampshire Medical Society and a board member of the New Hampshire Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

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