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U.S. Carries Out First Federal Execution in 17 Years
On Tuesday morning, a self-proclaimed white supremacist who killed an Arkansas family was executed in Indiana.
47-year-old Daniel Lewis Lee was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital. It happened “just hours after the Supreme Court greenlit the first federal execution to take place since 2003,” Fox News reported.
First Execution in 17 Years
Justice served — White Supremacist, Daniel Lewis Lee, executed for torturing, killing Arkansas family in 1996, first federal execution 17 years.https://t.co/9UUDBoR45M
— James A. Gagliano (@JamesAGagliano) July 14, 2020
Lee was brought into the execution chamber at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. He was strapped to a gurney. Fox News explained that there were IV tubes “coming through a metal panel in the walls and Lee breathed heavily before the drug was injected into his body, moving his legs and feet.”
Moments later, his chest was no longer moving.
Lee was convicted of “three counts of murder in aid of racketeering in the 1996 slayings of William Frederick Mueller, his wife Nancy Ann Mueller and his 8-year-old stepdaughter, Sarah Elizabeth Powell, in Arkansas,” Fox News reported.
The bodies of Mueller and his family were found five months after they went missing. They were shot to death and had plastic bags over their heads. Their bodies were dumped in the Illinois bayou, with rocks to keep them weighed down.
“I didn't do it,” Lee said. “I've made a lot of mistakes in my life but I'm not a murderer.”
“You're killing an innocent man” were his last words.
According to IndyStar, Lee’s execution was scheduled for 4 p.m. on Monday, but some legal challenges caused a delay.
A 5-4 Supreme Court decision on Tuesday morning “allowed him to be put to death, but a last-minute appeal to the 8th Circuit Court halted the issue for several more hours,” reported IndyStar.
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