The execution came 24 years after the 1996 Maryland triple murder for which he was convicted. It also came following an extended effort to reduce his sentence that began when Trump and then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr this past summer announced that, after 17 years without one, federal executions would resume.
Though his supporters did not deny Higgs’ involvement with the killings, they argued his punishment was more severe than the man who pulled the trigger, and disputed the assertion he ordered it to happen. The gunman, who is serving a life sentence, likewise disputed that assertion in a court filing.
Higgs received a lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court voted, 6-3, to vacate a stay of execution that likely would have extended argument over his sentence past inauguration day.