The fate of the Department of Justice’s recently proposed federal execution protocol is now in the hands of the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals, which recently heard arguments on whether the government overstepped when it created a uniform protocol. The case, In the Matter of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Execution Protocol cases , 19-5322, was heard by judges Gregory Katsas, Neomi Rao and David Tatel on Jan. 15, with arguments lasting roughly two hours. Melissa Patterson, an attorney for the Department of Justice, urged the appellate court to overturn an injunction prohibiting the government from executing five prisoners, while Catherine Stetson, representing the death row inmates, argued the government’s execution plan was unlawful. The litigation challenging the planned executions of five inmates on death row at the federal prison in Terre Haute — Alfred Bourgeois, Dustin Lee Honken, Daniel Lewis Lee, Lezmond Mitchell and Wesley Ira Purkey — has been ongoing s...
Striving for a World without Capital Punishment