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The sole federal execution chamber in the United States is in a place called Terre Haute the high ground in far western Indiana, named for a swath of land that rises above the nearby Wabash River. The surrounding country is in fact flat and wide, precipitously exposed to the sky.
The prison complex south of downtown via Route 150, past the dome and bell tower of the Vigo County courthouse, and after the Tire Barn on Spring Hill Road comprises the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution and the maximum-security U.S. Penitentiary, the home of the Special Confinement Unit: death row and the death house, a low, windowless building of dark-red brick on the northern edge of the grounds.
Federal Execution Post-Mortem: The Final Three Carried Out in January 2021
By Jessica Constant, DPRP Intern
[Note: This article is an update to our series on the 2020-2021 federal execution spree.]
In the waning days of his term, Donald Trump and his administration carried out three final federal executions. The executions of Lisa Montgomery, Corey Johnson, and Dustin Higgs brought the total number of executions carried out by the Federal Government in the past year to thirteen, a rate and number of executions unprecedented in modern times. Continuing the trend seen in the prior ten federal executions, the announcement of the final three execution dates spurred individual litigation that spanned jurisdictions.
At the funeral of man executed by U.S., family prays it is the last of its kind
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POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (Reuters) - By the grave dug for Dustin Higgs, the 13th and final prisoner executed by former President Donald Trump’s administration, a woman began to wail, doubling over and stomping her right foot as his coffin was lowered into the frozen ground.
Alexa Cave grieves for her brother Dustin Higgs, the 13th and final prisoner executed by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, with family members leaving his graveside in Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S., January 29, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
In the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency, the federal government undertook an effort to execute more people than any time since the 1930s, per the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). In fact, The New York Times reported on January 18 the Trump administration has killed more people in the last six month
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.