As Trump’s presidency is nearing to end, the administration is rushing to an unprecedented spree of executions.
Since 1986, 2020 will be the year with the most federal executions as ten people have been executed by administering lethal injections. The White House announces a plan of five scheduled executions before the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20.
If the five go off as per plan, it will break the 130-year-old custom of pausing the executions amid the transfer of powers. Also, Trump will be labeled as the most prolific executioner leader of the USA in over 130 years.
The execution of 13 death row inmates since the mid of 2020 had pushed many social rights activists and celebrities to raise their voice against the increasing number of federal executions. Kim Kardashian West, a reality star, urges her millions of followers to help her stop executions.
One of the five executions was observed this week when the 40-year-old Brandon Bernard was given a lethal injection.
Bernard was accused of murdering youth ministers Todd and Stacie Bagley in Texas. Kim Kardashian showed her sympathy and tender feelings for Bernard and said she is highly disappointed and heartbroken by the government’s decision. She requested her fans to support her in pressurizing the government to allow Bernard to live out his sentence in prison.
Alfred Bourgeois, 56, is scheduled to be executed today, and he will also be put to death at the penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Among the 5, one of the criminals scheduled to be executed is a woman. 52-year-old Lisa Montgomery is a convicted murderer, and as per plan, she will be put to death on January 12 at the all-male prison. There is no other federal facility other than all-male prison that conducts executions.
The public has vehemently opposed the decision of conducting executions, but Attorney General William Barr defended it, saying that the justice department is doing what it should do.