An ugly batch of executions, just before the bell
John M. Crisp
Living on death row is never a picnic, but the next five weeks are going to be a special kind of hell for three federal prisoners currently awaiting execution. Certainly, many Americans are looking forward to the end of the Trump administration, but none hope as anxiously to see the light of day on Jan. 20, 2021, as Lisa Montgomery, Cory Johnson and Dustin John Higgs.
The current spate of just-before-the-bell executions began this summer when the Trump administration resumed the use of capital punishment after a 17-year hiatus. Most recently, Brandon Bernard was executed on Dec. 10. Bernard was part of a gang that committed a brutal abduction and murder of two youth ministers in Texas in 1999.