Supreme Court rules federal execution can proceed for Daniel Lewis Lee

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: CNN

Supreme Court rules federal execution can proceed for Daniel Lewis Lee

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter

Updated 5:33 AM ET, Tue July 14, 2020

(CNN) -- The Supreme Court cleared the way for the resumption of the federal death penalty, in an unsigned order released after 2 a.m. ET Tuesday.

The court wiped away a lower court order temporarily blocking the execution of convicted killer Daniel Lewis Lee in a 5-4 vote. (1)

Lee, a one-time white supremacist who killed a family of three, was scheduled to be executed Monday in what would have been the first federal execution in 17 years. On Monday, a federal judge blocked the planned execution of Lee, and three others, citing ongoing challenges to the federal government's lethal injection protocol.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit late Monday refused the Justice Department's request to stay the injunction. The Justice Department had appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.

{snip}

(1) https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/13/politics/daniel-lewis-lee-execution/index.html

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/14/politics/daniel-lewis-lee-supreme-court-rule-execution/index.html

[FBaggins]

1. The world won't be worse off for his loss.

Can't seem to shed a tear.

[essme]

2. no, but humanity will be worse off

For allowing government sanctioned killing in retaliation.

[FBaggins]

3. Not in my book

“Government sanctioned” with multiple rounds/types of review/appeal seems superior to waiting for karma to get him or trying to do it myself... though Heinlein would disagree.

[marble falls]

4. Murder is murder, state sanctioned or not. If murder is wrong, it's wrong state sanctioned or not.

[FBaggins]

7. Only if you change the meaning of the word

By the current and historical definition... it isn't murder.

[Dial H For Hero]

9. Agreed. Definitions matter.

[marble falls]

10. Word games don't change the fact its wrong.

[FBaggins]

11. The word games are on the other side

Arguing that something should be unlawful... by insisting on a term that means that it's already unlawful... is a "word game" - as well as fallaciously circular argumentation.

[marble falls]

12. Kiling is always wrong regarldess of the word games from whatever side. When we are ...

reduced to high lighting words to make a point, it reduces murder to trivialization. Murder is wrong. It is wrong for any reason.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

14. Is killing (homicide) ever justifiable?

Is there ever a circumstance that should be accepted where such an action should not be considered and punished as a crime?

[Dial H For Hero]

15. Of course. Self defense comes to mind immediately, as does a justifiable war.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

18. No argument here n/t

[FBaggins]

16. You've just illustrated the "word games" problem

Is killing (homicide) ever justifiable?

Homicide and murder are essentially synonymous (with minor caveat that it's theoretically possible to have a life end unlawfully, but not have it be a crime)... but both are subsets of "killing". There are plenty of examples of "killing" that are neither homicide nor murder.

The question is whether or not DP falls inside or outside of that group. Insisting on starting with the "murder" label is just as dishonest as the "pro-life" caucus using that label for abortion. It dishonestly tries to win the debate without having it.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

19. Slogans sometimes have this problem

They become easy targets for the opposition leading to other slogans like "All Lives Matter."
It took some time for one of my family members to see the validity of the BLM slogan.

Language matters a great deal.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

13. re: Word games

Murder: the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.

Using the term "murder" in this case is more for emphasis and less an accurate application of the denotative sense of the word. Saying that execution isn't murder because execution is legal in this case concerning IF execution should be legal, is a circular argument.

I suggest that execution is a penalty that can be fairly applied by neither judges nor juries because, in general, many cases will always include some level of doubt attached to evidence brought by the prosecution. There are ample and numerous cases of death row convicts being found not guilty after new (sometimes suppressed) evidence surfaces. Forensic science is advancing. DNA is often showing wrongful conviction. POC are most often the victims of these wrongful convictions.

IMO, punitive sentences need to be affixed fairly. Many folks use the racial or ethnic backgrounds among the prison population to justify their prejudices. This reasoning is circular. The most punitive sentences, executions for example, are the ones most in need of review for fair and just application.

Also, the courts need to consider the relative burden of a sentence. Fines like $5,000 are almost meaningless to rich folks but are potentially life ruining to those living paycheck to paycheck. A prison sentence of 5 years means something entirely different to a 70 year old than it does to a 20 year old.

There is no chance for setting right a wrongful conviction once the person is dead.

[Fullduplexxx]

5. I think humanity will be ok

[Dial H For Hero]

6. He tortured then murdered an 8 year old girl. Retalition, in this case, works for me.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

8. "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons."

― Fyodor Dostoevsky

Execution in any the forms I know of is barbaric. The chances for misconduct by the investigators and prosecutors will always be present.

End this practice now.

[Toorich]

17. Death Row Animals

need to get what's coming to them. Amirite? Eye for an eye-tooth for a tooth. The raping,torturing murdering animals
must DIE!!!

But, after 10 or 15 years while the animal's appeals drag on and on, some journalism class investigates the case.
They find a couple of eyewitnesses who say they told the police that they saw a white guy shoot the victim and drop
that handkerchief over there that he wiped off blood that splattered on his face when he ran away. Yes, they saw the police put the handkerchief in a baggie and then that
went in a big yellow envelope. No, they don't know why they weren't called to testify. Yes, it absolutely was a white guy that did the shooting.

But, that savage animal on death row who should have been put down years ago, so we tax payers wouldn't have to feed him;
well, he is absolutely NOT a white guy.
The journalism class finds a Lawyer who will work for free and he files a motion to make the police and prosecutor come up
with the handkerchief for DNA testing. Oh Boy, the fight is on. It takes another 2 or 3 years of fighting in court to get this
evidence tested. In the meantime, everybody says the animal on death row is trying to get off on a technicality. He had a trial and
appeal he needs to die!!
But the handkerchief gets tested, there is identifiable DNA on it that matches a white convicted felon who did time for armed
robbery. Also, the monogram on the handkerchief is the initials of the white guy. When confronted by the evidence
collected by the journalism students and the free lawyer, the white guy confesses to the killing.

But damn, what about that dirty savage killer animal on death row? In the last 20 or so years he has lived in a concrete
room the size of your walk-in closet. His wife moved on. His kids had ballgames, birthdays, graduations, engagements, marriages,
grand-babies, Christmases. But his kids moved on. The only person who's written him in the last 12 years was his old Auntie and she died 4 or 5 years ago.
So, what do we say to this guy? Oops, our bad, sorry.