{"id":18082,"date":"2021-01-16T07:28:50","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T12:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=18082"},"modified":"2021-01-16T07:28:50","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T12:28:50","slug":"dustin-higgs-final-execution-of-trump-presidency-is-carried-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/01\/16\/dustin-higgs-final-execution-of-trump-presidency-is-carried-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Dustin Higgs: Final execution of Trump presidency is carried out"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p><b class=\"css-14iz86j-BoldText e5tfeyi0\">Dustin Higgs, an inmate on death row in Indiana, has died in the final federal execution of the Trump presidency just days before he leaves office.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Higgs was convicted in the killings of three women in a wildlife refuge in 1996, but until his death denied ordering their murder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>He died by lethal injection at 01:23 local time (06:23 GMT) on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>His execution is the 13th carried out since July when the US government ended a 17-year hiatus on federal executions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>It comes just days before President-elect Joe Biden, who is against the death penalty, is sworn in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"unordered-list-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<div class=\"css-1pzprxn-BulletListContainer e5tfeyi3\">\n<ul role=\"list\">\n<li><a class=\"css-1xgj2ad-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-55236260\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In Trump&#8217;s final days, a rush of executions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"css-1xgj2ad-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-55587260\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Looking for answers in the life of a killer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"css-1xgj2ad-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-45835584\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How many countries still have the death sentence?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>There has been criticism of the Trump administration&#8217;s rush to carry out the sentences &#8211; breaking with an 130-year-old precedent of pausing executions during a presidential transition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-mysbf6-ComponentWrapper-CrossheadComponentWrapper e1xue1i84\" data-component=\"crosshead-block\">\n<h2 class=\"css-qozapo-StyledHeading e1fj1fc10\">What was Dustin Higgs convicted of?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Higgs was convicted and sentenced to death in 2001 for overseeing the 1996 kidnapping and murder of three women: Tanji Jackson, Tamika Black and Mishann Chinn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>The women had been on a date with Higgs and two other men at an apartment before one rebuffed his advances and an argument broke out between the group. Higgs and accomplice Willis Haynes offered to drive them home but instead took them to a wildlife refuge in Maryland, where prosecutors said Higgs gave Haynes a gun and told him to shoot the three women.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Haynes, who confessed to being the shooter, was sentenced to life in prison in a separate trial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;It is arbitrary and inequitable to punish Mr Higgs more severely than the actual killer,&#8221; a lawyer had appealed in a plea for clemency addressed to President Trump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-18mjolk-ComponentWrapper e1xue1i80\" data-component=\"image-block\">\n<figure class=\"css-2y05cd-StyledFigure e34k3c20\">\n<div class=\"css-kwaqyc-StyledFigureContainer e34k3c22\"><span class=\"css-1hq4gmv-Placeholder e16icw910\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"css-evoj7m-Image ee0ct7c0\" src=\"https:\/\/c.files.bbci.co.uk\/1835C\/production\/_116546199_f602dd26-9854-4d68-8ec9-ef3c2c364a8e.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/240\/cpsprodpb\/1835C\/production\/_116546199_f602dd26-9854-4d68-8ec9-ef3c2c364a8e.jpg 240w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/1835C\/production\/_116546199_f602dd26-9854-4d68-8ec9-ef3c2c364a8e.jpg 320w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/1835C\/production\/_116546199_f602dd26-9854-4d68-8ec9-ef3c2c364a8e.jpg 480w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/624\/cpsprodpb\/1835C\/production\/_116546199_f602dd26-9854-4d68-8ec9-ef3c2c364a8e.jpg 624w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/800\/cpsprodpb\/1835C\/production\/_116546199_f602dd26-9854-4d68-8ec9-ef3c2c364a8e.jpg 800w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/976\/cpsprodpb\/1835C\/production\/_116546199_f602dd26-9854-4d68-8ec9-ef3c2c364a8e.jpg 976w\" alt=\"Alexa Cave, sister of Dustin Higgs, talks about the moment she watched her brother being executed at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana\" width=\"976\" height=\"549\" \/><\/span><\/div><figcaption class=\"css-1rnnz6t-StyledFigureCaption e34k3c21\">Alexa Cave, sister of Dustin Higgs, was there for his execution (Image: Reuters)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A court had ordered a stay of execution for Higgs and another inmate, Corey Johnson, on Tuesday after they contracted Covid-19 on death row &#8211; with lawyers arguing damage to their lung tissue would cause painful suffering during their executions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>But the Department of Justice immediately appealed and won the case. Johnson was put to death on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>A final bid to halt Higgs&#8217;s execution then failed on Friday when the US Supreme Court&#8217;s conservative majority voted 6-3 to clear the way the sentence to be carried out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;This is not justice,&#8221; Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissent. &#8220;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. When it did not, this Court should have. It has not.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>She also listed the names of all 13 executed since July: &#8220;To put that in historical context, the Federal Government will have executed more than three times as many people in the last six months that it had in the previous six decades.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>In his final words, Higgs repeated his claim to innocence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d like to say I am an innocent man,&#8221; he said, mentioning the three women by name. &#8220;I did not order the murders.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>Higgs was the third to die at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana this week including\u00a0<a class=\"css-1xgj2ad-InlineLink e1no5rhv0\" href=\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/01\/13\/lisa-montgomery-us-executes-only-woman-on-federal-death-row\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on federal death row<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;The government completed its unprecedented slaughter of 13 human beings tonight by killing Dustin Higgs, a Black man who never killed anyone, on Martin Luther King&#8217;s birthday,&#8221; Shawn Nolan, one of Higgs&#8217;s lawyers, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper e1xue1i83\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"css-83cqas-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi2\">\n<p>&#8220;Dustin spent decades on death row in solitary confinement helping others around him, while working tirelessly to fight his unjust convictions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-55687279\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">Dustin Higgs, an inmate on death row in Indiana, has died in the final federal execution of the Trump presidency just days before he leaves office. Higgs was convicted in the killings of three women <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/01\/16\/dustin-higgs-final-execution-of-trump-presidency-is-carried-out\/\" title=\"Dustin Higgs: Final execution of Trump presidency is carried out\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,109,2,3],"tags":[1679,7083,285,7556,3205,4823,6609,3122,7551,4974,1310],"class_list":{"0":"post-18082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-human-rights","8":"category-headline","9":"category-news","10":"category-usa","11":"tag-capital-punishment","12":"tag-covid-19","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-dustin-higgs","15":"tag-executions","16":"tag-indiana","17":"tag-joe-biden","18":"tag-maryland","19":"tag-terre-haute","20":"tag-us-department-of-justice","21":"tag-us-supreme-court","22":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18084,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18082\/revisions\/18084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}