By: Keith Klein (Photo: Star Tribune)
38-year-old Lezmond Mitchell was put to death Wednesday at the federal prison in Terre Haute.
Mitchell a member of the Navajo Nation was the only Native American on death row. He was convicted of the 2001 killing of 63-year-old Alyce Slim, and her 9-year-old granddaughter, Tiffany Lee, in Arizona.
Asked if he had any last words, Mitchell said, “No, I’m good.”
Mitchell was the fourth execution in Terre Haute this year. Like the three before him, multiple appeals were made to stay or cancel the execution. Like the others, they were unsuccessful.
Attorneys said Mitchell’s case is the only time in modern history the federal government has sought the death penalty over the objection of a tribe when the crime was committed on tribal land.
Federal executions resumed in Terre Haute in July after a 17-year hiatus. Daniel Lewis Lee was the first to be executed.
Keith Dwayne Nelson was scheduled to be executed today at the prison.
However, Washington state U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said a federal law that regulates drugs requires the government to get a prescription for the lethal injection drug phenobarbital, which it plans to use to execute Nelson.The government is appealing.
Nelson was convicted of the kidnap, rape, and murder of a 10-year-old girl in Missouri in 2001.
The Kentucky Board of Education will meet in special session today to discuss the decision of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association to proceed with fall sports, specifically high contact sports. The KHSAA pushed back the start of football to September 11.
The Governor along with the Department of Education and the Department of Public Health needs to approve the KHSAA Board of Control’s plan. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said, ”With the current level of the virus… listen if I was somebody wanting to play a 10-game season in a high-contact sport, starting it now – the odds aren’t good.”
