The U.S. Court of appeals has decided on the fate of Keith Dwayne Nelson and will allow the scheduled federal execution to take place on Friday. This was the response of the CA after the execution was stopped by a lower court judge.
The judge's comment on why the execution should be delayed is that the government should get a doctor's prescription for what drugs to use in the lethal injection. Response from the higher court came after 24 hours later.
Suspect charged with rape and murder of a girl
Last Thursday, Tanya Chutkan, U.S. District Judge, claimed that federal law says that the government needs to have a prescription for the lethal injection drug called pentobarbital. It will be used for the execution of Nelson, according to AP News.
On Thursday, all the three judges in the court of appeals ordered the execution to go on as planned. One of their comments is the findings and conclusions of irreparable injure will not be considered by the CA. Three of the judges, two who were appointed by Barack Obama, were Cornelia Pillard, Robert Wilkins, and Neomi Rao who was appointed by President Donald Trump.
In an email sent to Associated Press, Nelson's attorney Dale Baich stated that they are reviewing options and choosing the best one for his client, cited in US News.
Keith Dwayne Nelson is only one of the five prisoners to be put to death by the federal government, and he is scheduled as the 5th in line. The place of execution will be the prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. They are part of the Trump administration's plan last year to restart death row. Before that, the last execution was dated way back in 2003, according to Fox 23.
More death sentences to be carried out this year
The sentenced convict got the death penalty after a guilty plea for the 1999 abduction, rape, and murder of the 10-year-old Pamela Butler in Kansas.
He abducted the victim when the young girl was just rollerblading in front of her residence in broad daylight. Next came the heinous acts of raping a minor girl that was followed by him strangling her with a wire cruelly, reported by Daily Independent. For this horrific crime, Nelson had been waiting on the death row for a decades now.
The decision to stop the execution of Nelson came a few hours after the execution of Lezmond Mitchell. One comment is that the government has executed more convicts during 2020 than any other year. Scheduled in September are two more death sentences with pentobarbital.
Many of the convicts scheduled death sentences were delayed while determining the drug to used on them. According to Chutkan, a prescription is needed to fulfill all requirements lawfully.
She cited the previous ruling that the drug used for death sentences still falls under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Federal executions are set to continue, according to Attorney General William Barr.