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In true Trump fashion, he makes news yet again for his unprecedented practices. President Trump’s administration plans to execute 5 federal prisoners before inauguration day. The executions of 1 woman and 4 black men will begin Thursday and end on Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday. The acts break a record in being the most federal inmates scheduled for execution during the last leg of a presidential term. The announcement was made just 60 days before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
July 2019, After a 17-year hiatus Attorney General William Barr resumed Federal executions. Despite multiple appeals and petitions, 8 inmates have been put on death row this year. 5 more inmates have been scheduled to be executed before Biden’s swearing-in ceremony. By the end of his term, the Trump administration will have authorized 13 executions in 6 months.
“What is clear is that this administration wants these prisoners dead before Joe Biden takes office. The only other time more than one execution happened during a transition was during Grover Cleveland’s first transition — from November 1884 to March 1885,” Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center Robert Dunham said.
The federal inmates scheduled for death include :
- Brandon Bernard, A Black man, is the youngest person to be scheduled for execution in 70 years. At 18 years old, he was convicted for the 1999 murder of a pair of youth ministers. His execution date has been set for December 10th.
- Alfred Bourgeois, A Black man, was convicted for abusing, torturing, and ultimately beating his daughter to death in 2002. His execution date has been set for December 11.
- Lisa Montgomery, A White woman, is the first and only woman scheduled for execution in 70 years. She was convicted in 2004 for killing a pregnant woman. Her execution date has been set for January 12th.
- Corey Johnson, A Black man, was convicted for killing seven people in 1992 as part of Virginia’s drug trade. His execution date has been set for January 14.
- Dustin Higgs, A Black man, was convicted for the 1996 killings of three women in Maryland. Although he didn’t kill anyone, he is alleged of ordered the killings. His execution date has been set for January 15, Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday.
If the five take place as planned, that would be a total of 13 federal executions since July and would cement Trump as the President who presided over the most federal executions in over a century.
