Trump’s Quiet Rush to Execute Inmates in his Final Days as President

Brandon Bernard, one of the last five federal inmates executed by the Trump Administration, pictured in July 2020. He was only eighteen years of age at the time his of his crime, and five of the jurors who sentenced him to death have since expressed regret. Source.

The four years of Donald Trump’s presidency had many unprecedented moments. Adding to the list of historically unfortunate acts, the Administration resumed federal executions after they had been paused since 2003. Thirteen people were executed by the Administration in the time since July 2020 and the inauguration of President Joe Biden. This is more than the number of federal executions in over 56 years combined. Additionally, five of these were ordered during the transition to the incoming Administration, something that had not been done in 135 years. 

The first to be executed in this spree was Daniel Lewis Lee on July 14, 2020, who was convicted of three counts of murder and other crimes. The executions continued until September, then paused again until Trump lost reelection. After his loss, he scheduled five more before officially leaving office.

The first of these final five inmates was Brandon Bernard. His case garnered massive public attention due to the fact that he was only 18 years old when he took part in the double murder and robbery that put him on death row for the remainder of his life. Some of his accomplices were too young at the time of the crime to be sentenced to death. Multiple lawyers and jurors involved in the convicting Bernard, as well as many community advocates, have since advocated against his execution. 

Another notable execution was that of Lisa Montgomery, the first woman to be federally executed in almost 70 years. She was convicted of murdering a woman and kidnapping her unborn baby, which resulted in the baby’s death. Montgomery’s childhood abuse was cited by many supporters as an extenuating circumstance, but to no avail. She was convicted more recently than most other inmates who got an execution date was set with only 54 days notice, rather than the usual 120. 

The final execution of the Trump Administration was Dustin John Higgs. Higgs was convicted in a 1996 triple kidnapping and murder along with his codefindent, who faces life in prison rather than the death penalty. During his time on death row, Higgs contracted COVID-19 and his lawyers tried to suspend his execution due to a possibility the virus would exacerbate the pain of lethal injection. However, his objections were declined and Higgs became the 13th and final person to be executed by the Trump Administration. 

All of these executions were aided by the Supreme Court. In July, the court lifted a block in a 5-4 decision, paving the way for these killings to occur. Dustin Higgs’ case was also heard by the Supreme Court. The state he was tried in later abolished the use of the death penalty, leaving a potential legal problem with Higgs’ sentence. However, the court denied these challenges and Higgs was executed shortly after.

These executions come at a time when public support of capital punishment has been declining for many years. The incoming Biden Administration has made it clear they do not support the death penalty and will attempt to abolish it in the coming years. There are still about 50 inmates on death row that this decision would affect.