U.S. Executes Dustin Higgs In 13th And Final Execution Under Trump Administration

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.npr.org/2021/01/16/957559566/u-s-executes-dustin-higgs-in-13th-and-final-execution-under-trump-administration

The U.S. government has executed Dustin Higgs, the last prisoner executed during the Trump administration, and the 13th in the space of six months.

The Supreme Court declined to stop the execution, although some justices dissented, noting that before the first of the 13, it had been 17 years since a federal execution had been carried out.

Justice Sonya Sotomayor called it an "unprecedented rush," saying that "after waiting almost two decades to resume federal executions, the Government should have proceeded with some measure of restraint to ensure it did so lawfully."

Higgs, along with two other men, killed three women in 1996, with one of the men, Willis Haynes, actually pulling the trigger. Haynes pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. Higgs was found guilty in 2000 of multiple federal offenses including first-degree premeditated murder, three counts of first-degree felony murder, and three counts of kidnapping resulting in death.

Sotomayor's dissent in Higgs' case is blistering; Breyer's drier but just as damning.

Abolish the death penalty.

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

I agree. Abolish the death penalty.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. Kick

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. Evening kick.