Staff Writer | November 21, 2019
U.S. Attorney General William Barr stated in July that the Justice Department intended to resume carrying out the federal death penalty, however, those plans are on hold after a federal court decision Wednesday. youtube
(Reuters) – A U.S. judge has halted the scheduled executions of four inmates on federal death row, temporarily stalling an effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to resume federal executions next month after a 16-year hiatus.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over long-running legal challenges by condemned prisoners to the Department of Justice’s lethal injection protocol, issued the temporary order late on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Washington.
She said the condemned inmates suing the government were likely to succeed on at least one of their arguments, namely that the Federal Death Penalty Act requires the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to follow the execution procedures of the state in which an inmate was convicted.